The Delinquent
by icyreflections
Summary: COMPLETED Squinoa AU. Squall's a juvenile delinquent, Rinoa's a prissy popular girl who feels out of place. When they meet will Rinoa change Squall to good or is it Squall who will change Rinoa? Really crap summary, seriously.
1. Chapter one

**The Delinquent **

I don't own final fantasy 8.

This is my attempt at a totally unoriginal concept, but I love it!

Right-o on with it…

Rinoa stared out the window and watched the blurring objects wiz by. She felt tears welling at the back of her eyes but didn't want to cry, she'd cried enough about this. Her father General Caraway was moving her away from her friends, her school… her love.

Stealing her from all of that and forcing her to some hick-ass backwards town by the sea that she suspected had a dangerously high level of interbreeding.

But she wasn't going to cry about it… no sir.

Her father turned to her and patted her on the back, his way of comforting her. She pulled away from his touch and leaned against the door, wishing that for once he'd just leave her alone. It was quite strange, for the last year or so he'd done nothing but look over her shoulder.

For most of her life he'd never shown any interest in her but all of a sudden she was given rules and restrictions. She was given punishments and rewards, encouragement was the weirdest one of all though!

"Rinoa, I know you think I'm an ogre now but I don't have a choice." Caraway said as he retracted his hand.

"No, I don't think you're an ogre, I know you are." Rinoa said aloofly.

Caraway sighed; usually he would've blown up about her saying such a thing to him. He was a leading advocate in the belief that children should have respect for their elders, but he knew that she was just upset and as soon as she made some new friends everything would go back to normal. Whatever that was…

Soon they were in the town of Dollet, nearly the end of their journey. From here they had to take a train to Balamb, where they would reside.

Rinoa loved the idea of living in Dollet. It was such a radical town; she was told that the night life was more exciting than Deling… before Galbadian soldiers had decided to make it their post. Since then Dollet hadn't been the same.

Her father led her to a small sea-side café and they sat to have a late lunch. All that travelling had made both of them famished and even Rinoa could refuse a meal.

Finally resigning herself to the fact that if she didn't have a conversation with someone soon she was going to burst Rinoa turned to her father and gave him a piercing look. Her way of saying that she was ready to talk.

"Why can't we move here? I'd rather move to Winhill!" Rinoa exclaimed.

Caraway sighed; he took another sip of his coffee and thought carefully about his answer. He didn't want to give Rinoa an opening.

"Because… I was offered a job there… and I couldn't go on living in that house." Caraway said slowly.

Rinoa understood and she didn't want to comment on it really. That was how she was dealing with this, she was trying to forget. About a three years ago her mother had been diagnosed with cancer… it took it two years to finally take her but she'd refused to pass away in a hospital.

She wanted to be somewhere familiar to her and with her family close by. Since then everyday had been a nightmare. It was hard to live without her mother. They'd been so close and that was the reason that Caraway was being so fatherly to her lately.

"So because you don't want to live there anymore you're taking me away from my memories of her!" Rinoa yelled, earning her the attention of not only Caraway but the rest of the store as well.

It was blatantly obvious that this was still a tender subject for Rinoa.

"Rinoa she'll always be with you and so long as you remember her you'll have your memories." Caraway retorted quietly.

Rinoa threw her napkin down on the table and stood abruptly.

"Sorry I'm suddenly not terribly hungry."

Rinoa stormed out of the café and Caraway sat with his head in his hands, wondering how that went so badly.

Rinoa walked out towards the docks and sat down at the pier, her legs dangling over the side. She looked out towards the ocean and sighed, wishing that she'd controlled her temper a bit better in there. She was still brimming with anger and didn't really want to speak to anyone again but was trying to calm herself down.

This was a hard feet to accomplish considering that she was what one might call raw. This was because she wore her emotions on her sleeve, she didn't hold back on anything and if she had something to say or something she wanted to do, she generally did.

'_How can he do this to me? How can he take me away from everything…?' _

**FLASHBACK**

Rinoa stood in front of her house, men were loading boxes full of her belongings into a large truck that contained most of the gear she and her father possessed.

She heard a car come skidding around the corner and closed her eyes, knowing that she was about to have her tearful goodbye. It was none other than her boyfriend Lucas and her best friends Marcia.

They exited the car, Lucas, the epitome of everything desirable. He was tall, toned and tanned. His blonde wavy hair was spiked up today and made straight by various products.

He had cool blue eyes that made most females melt and he was considered one of the more attractive men at her local school. Not only was he hot but he was also captain of the school football team which gave Rinoa instant popularity.

They'd been dating for about two years now and Rinoa was crushed that she had to leave him. But she was even more crushed about having to leave Marcia.

Marcia was the most beautiful girls she'd ever seen. She had sparkling green eyes and blonde hair with purple streaks in it. Her face was a nice tan and she had full pouting lips that Rinoa had always admired.

Marcia was tall enough to be a model and showed off her never ending legs with short skirts and hot pants. Most of the males at her school would like to have gone there and it was Rinoa's displeasure to announce that a large quantity of they had.

Marcia was gorgeous and she knew it, she also never stopped to think about how badly she was degrading herself every weekend when she slept with a new guy. Rinoa had known Marcia since kindergarten and they'd been damn near inseparable since.

They dived out of the car and headed straight for Rinoa. She smiled at them both but they could see through her.

Marcia immediately enclosed Rinoa in an air tight hug and Rinoa felt her body start to shake and her tears seeping into Rinoa's clothes. She stared at Lucas who looked dejected and slightly angry. Rinoa tried to smile at him but his look was making her look more and more depressed.

"Rinoa… please don't go, you can stay with me!" Marcia protested.

Rinoa shook her head, tears finally streaming down her pale face. She wiped them away with her hand and Marcia finally let go of her.

"No I can't, I'm sorry."

She heard a horn tooting behind her and turned to see her father sitting behind the wheel of his car staring her at impatiently.

She squeezed her eyes shut and bit her bottom lip. Her hands were at her sides, balled into fists as she tried to suppress the rest of the tears that were ready to cascade down her face.

She felt Lucas pull her into a hug and kiss her on the forehead. They'd already talked about it and they'd decided that they had to have a long distance relationship, it was the only way. They couldn't just flush two years down the toilet as if it was nothing. Rinoa wanted to marry Lucas and wasn't going to let a thing like moving to a different country change that.

He pulled away and Marcia grabbed her hands in her own. Rinoa smiled at her and sighed. Rinoa pulled her into a hug of her own and kissed her on the cheek.

"I'll write to you every day." Marcia sobbed.

"I'll write to you twice a day!" Rinoa replied.

She let her go and waved them both goodbyes as she entered her father's car. As she drove off she didn't stop looking at them until they were out of sight. Once they were she turned back in her seat and grabbed her book.

Rinoa had a passion, something that she was naturally good at. When she did it, nothing mattered. What was going on in her life didn't matter, no matter how bad things were while she did this nothing was wrong. She drew.

**END FLASHBACK**

Rinoa stood, she'd already decided that thinking wasn't helping her at all; all it was doing was depressing her.

Rinoa took a deep breath and listened to the approaching footsteps; she turned her head to the side and stared out towards the never ending ocean. To her right she could just see the Balamb boarders and sighed.

"Rinoa, it's time to go."

Rinoa sat in her seat, watching out her window for any sea life that might decide to show itself. This was a rare thing to see considering the fact that the train usually scared away any and all fish. Occasionally you'd see the odd shark, but that wasn't too regular.

But staring at nothing pass by was a hell of a lot better than making conversation with her father. Or as she had begun calling him to herself "the ape".

Time passed quickly and it wasn't too long until they were in Balamb town. Rinoa stepped out of the train and squinted as the light shined in her eyes. It hadn't been terribly bright inside the train and being outside hurt her eyes instantly.

Her father informed her that there was no point renting a car as there house wasn't too far from the train station. What a joke that was! After walking for about twenty minutes they finally approached a house that Caraway informed was their's.

Rinoa stood outside the house just staring at it for seemed like the longest time. It was pretty plain, there was a white picket fence going around it and a concrete path that led to the front door. The door was large and had stained glass in the middle of it that took up at least half the door.

Rinoa noticed that a lot of the house had the same sort of stained glass on a lot of the windows and was taken back by how beautiful it made the house look. It was two storeys and made of wood. Around the back was an average sized pool and a barbeque area, even though Rinoa knew that lighting fires of any kind was prohibited in Balamb.

A couple of years ago there had been a huge fire that had threatened to destroy the entire town and since then there had been a fire ban.

Rinoa sighed and took one of her bags in her hand; she solemnly headed towards the house with her head to the floor.

She opened the door and looked around the inside. It was so barren; she had never felt so alone in her entire life. She began making her way around the house.

Soon she heard the moving truck pull up outside and almost immediately the house was filled with burly looking men carrying their belongings.

"Why don't you go pick a room?" Caraway suggested.

Rinoa shrugged her shoulders and made her way up the stairs, intending on doing just that. She'd noticed while outside that there was an attic and had already decided that she'd be best suited there. She'd always wanted an attic bedroom.

She pulled down the stairs with the bit of cord that hung from the ceiling and climbed up them, her mind was filling up with childlike curiosity as to what this room would actually look like.

Once inside she was nearly speechless at what she had before her. Above her was a stained glass skylight with a picture of a dove souring through the air imprinted in it in various colours. The room itself was huge and she was quite certain that this would do her fine.

There was only one other window that was just normal glass and it had a view that stretched out towards the ocean. The room was a bit dusty but Rinoa didn't mind. In fact it would give her something to do to get her mind off missing all her friends.

**Two and a half hours later**

Rinoa was nearly done setting her room up. She had her bed facing towards the view; she quite liked the idea of waking up to that every morning. Inside her large closet was all her various clothes and inside her dresser were the rest of them.

Once she'd dusted and whatnot she'd discovered that the floor was varnished wood and she was quite stoked about that. Her computer had been set up in the corner and she eagerly waited for the day that her father would get the internet so she could email her friends.

Other than that she didn't really have too many belongings, her last house didn't have as spacious a room as this and was thinking about getting some couches or bean bags or something to take up space.

While these thoughts circled around her head she turned and saw a man standing before her. She screamed loudly and clutched her heart as it started doing back flips inside her.

Once the initial shock wore off she took note on what an attractive man she had before her. He had sort of shaggy brown hair and light blue eyes that she found herself captivated in. His dress sense seemed casual but it suited him well.

"Sorry, your dad said to just come up." he said, interrupting her assessment of him.

"No it's alright; you just gave me a fright." Rinoa sighed.

He nodded and Rinoa finally started wondering just who he was and why he was in her room in the first place.

"Who are you?" Rinoa asked once her curiosity got the better of her.

"Oh, I'm Squall, I'm your new neighbour."

So… what did you think?


	2. Chapter two

**The Delinquent **

I don't own final fantasy 8 or Barbie or action man.

Thanks to anyone who reviewed my story.

In this chapter the characters personalities start to really come through, Rinoa should stop feeling sorry for herself in the next chapter.

Right-o

"Sorry, your dad said to just come up." he said, interrupting her assessment of him.

"No it's alright; you just gave me a fright." Rinoa sighed.

He nodded and Rinoa finally started wondering just who he was and why he was in her room in the first place.

"Who are you?" Rinoa asked once her curiosity got the better of her.

"Oh, I'm Squall, I'm your new neighbour."

Once Squall had finished making his initial introduction he made his way back to his own property. He grimaced as he opened the door, knowing exactly what was waiting for him. This was his Hades, this house and all who dwelled in it were what made his life quite literally hell.

"Squall, how'd it go?" Squall's overly excitable father exclaimed as soon as Squall walked in the door.

He was standing on the other side of the door like a dog waiting for its master to come home. Squall despised the way his father idolized him. While most people would probably love it, after awhile the novelty wears off.

"I said hello, met the daughter, and came home." Squall said offhandedly as he headed towards the phone.

Before he got there his father was right there again.

"That girls a cutie."

Squall sighed and frowned, he hated this part. This was the part where Laguna, his father, would try to convince him to start a romance with her. It was Laguna's great passion to see Squall happy and thought that bringing in a complication like that was going to make it so. Laguna just didn't understand that Squall was happy… in his own way.

"I noticed." Squall replied curtly.

"So, you ganna have a next door neighbor relationship… falling for the neighbor girl?"

Squall rolled his eyes and grabbed the phone; he took it upstairs to his room and slammed the door. He cringed as he did so, hoping that she wouldn't hear it. She would go mental about something like that.

"SQUALL LEONHART what have I told you about slamming doors!"

"Sorry Mum." Squall called out.

He listened for a little while and sighed, glad that she wasn't going to go off her rocket at him again. His mother was what one might call a "stresser", little things that generally didn't bother most people just got to her. Squall had the same problem so he usually knew what he could and couldn't get away with.

After a couple of seconds Squall began dialing a familiar number, after a few rings someone finally picked up.

"City Morgue." An over-confident voice said on the other line.

"Loser." Squall replied.

"Hey man, we all set?" the voice on the other end enquired.

**Back over with Rinoa**

Rinoa lay down on her bed, finally feeling that she could. She knew that she couldn't comfortably do it until her room was sorted out. She was the sort of person that wouldn't relax until the job was done. She couldn't ignore these things because she knew that if she put it off then it'd never get done.

There was just one final touch that needed to be done. She pulled out three photo frames.

The first one she pulled out was of her and Lucas; they had just been on a skiing trip in Trabia and were inside a lodge. Lucas had his arms wrapped around Rinoa's waist from behind and Rinoa was holding onto his arms lightly.

They were both smiling and Rinoa looked happier than she had in a long time. That was a long time ago though… before her mother passed away. In fact that was when her mother was doing well, it seemed that those were the only times that Rinoa could be happy.

Rinoa sighed and placed it atop her bedside table. She wanted that to be one of the first things she saw every morning so for at least a couple of seconds she wouldn't be in this hick-ass town.

The second was of Marcia. She was sitting atop a small hill with a white rose in her hand. She was staring at the rose with a soft smile on her face and once again she looked flawless. Rinoa smiled at the picture and put it beside her mirror.

The third was of her mother. She had a baby in her arms that would grow up to be Rinoa and she was smiling down at her with all the love that one person could possess.

The feeling that shone through her eyes was extraordinary and Rinoa had always loved that picture. She was unsure about where to put it so she just placed it beside the picture of her and Lucas.

Rinoa stared at the picture for a lingering couple of seconds; it was times like this that she missed her mother the most. Rinoa pulled her eyes away, not wanting to start thinking like that. She didn't need to upset herself more than she already was.

She heard footsteps coming up towards her and sighed, knowing instantly that it would be her father.

She didn't look at him when he entered and only acknowledged him when he sat down at the end of her bed.

"Rinoa, I know your upset now, but things will get better. You'll see."

Rinoa didn't understand how things could improve at all; all she wanted to do was to go home. Back to her old home where she was secure. Back where things made sense and she wasn't a stranger. Where everyone knew her name and respected her.

In Deling she was one of the most popular girls in school, she was going out with the school football captain… she was a somebody… here she was nothing.

**Two days later**

Rinoa tugged at the bottom of her blouse. She was accustomed to wearing a uniform, in Deling it was casual dress all the time and here there was a fashionably nonexistent uniform.

It consisted of a long red and black tartan skirt that went down to her shins, a white blouse and ugly black sandals. That was the summer uniform and she could see herself getting desperately hot in the long skirt.

The first thing she noticed was that every other student there had their blouse un-tucked, so instantly she un-tucked her own. Then she noticed that the backs of all the students' sandals were flattened down by the girls' heels, so Rinoa bent down and did the same with her own.

Other than that she couldn't see anything that stuck out as a fashion statement so she walked into the school and headed for the office.

After getting horribly lost and having to ask for directions she finally found the office. Once there she encountered an incredibly stuck up office-lady who thought her job was to make students feel as uncomfortable as possible.

She noticed a blonde boy sitting on one of the waiting chairs. He smirked at her and she smiled back, feeling a little uncomfortable by his piercing stare she turned away and waited for the lady to print out her timetable.

"Don't touch that!" the office lady shouted at the blonde headed boy who had been heading for a pamphlet.

He glared menacingly at her and grabbed it anyway, a small smile set upon his face that just begged her to protest again. She didn't, instead she just sighed and handed Rinoa her timetable.

Rinoa found her home room without much trouble, the numbering system on the classrooms wasn't that hard to follow and once she'd sussed it out she found it rather simple.

She walked in just as the bell was ringing and found herself to be one of the last people there. The teacher, an old crabby looking man, glanced at her and gave her a look that screamed "what are you doing in my classroom?"

"Uhhh… is this P12?" Rinoa enquired, feeling more uncomfortable than she had in years.

"Yes." He replied simply.

Rinoa decided that the only way to approach this situation was with confidence and didn't want the other students to sense her fear. Teenagers can smell fear and they jump at the chance to play on that, she didn't want to be the person that they tormented the whole year.

Rinoa walked towards his desk and gave him her timetable, explaining that she was new and she was assigned to this class.

"Good of someone to tell me. I'm afraid the only seat that is left is at the back, please take your seat and remain quiet until the rest of the students get here." The teacher barked.

Rinoa walked hastily towards her seat and sat down. She sat down and stared at everyone from the back of the room. It was mostly filled with Barbie dolls and action men.

She suddenly felt very comfortable; these were her type of people, normal, catty teenagers… the kind of people she could get along with. She wasn't either of these things herself but she knew how to handle these people.

She'd grown up around these people, she managed to be strangely unaffected by them but she still knew what to say and what not to say when dealing with them.

Then the door flung open and two individuals walked in. one she recognized as that boy who lived next to her and the other was a perky looking petite girl who simply radiated.

There was no other way to put it; she drew your attention like a moth to a flame. Rinoa assumed that she must be popular but judging by her uniform… maybe not.

Her skirt had two splits going up either side that revealed a lot of her leg and instead of the standard sandals she wore strap up ones that had leather bands that wrapped all the way up to her knees.

Her bottom buttons on her blouse were undone so that they revealed her toned stomach and the top ones were undone to reveal a little bit of her v-neck bright yellow t-shirt that she wore underneath. She had various jewelry on that Rinoa already knew was a big no no.

She had shoulder length brown hair that flipped out at the bottoms and emerald green eyes that sparkled with childlike inquisitiveness. Rinoa knew the instant she looked at her that she was outgoing and seemed like a lot of fun.

The girl chewed on her gum for a couple of seconds then blew a large bubble.

Squall, the next door neighbor had the standard boy's uniform on with a few minor differences. He wore the grey dress pants, but they seemed a little bit baggy on him and he had a long silver chain hanging down on the left side.

He had a long sleeved shirt on with the sleeves rolled up and a crimson red vest on over it. He had a red and black tie on that was hung loosely around his neck and the top button on his shirt was left undone. He had a large silver pendant hanging from his neck proudly and Rinoa noticed an aura of disdain that he hadn't possessed when she first met him.

He had his hands in his pocket and sat down at the desk in the front beside the door, one of the last remaining seats.

His female companion bounced her way to the back of the classroom and sat in a seat beside Rinoa. She slouched in her seat and held her hands out in front of her, grasping the end of her desk.

Rinoa noticed for the first time the carvings that were covering the girl's desk. There was a large love heart in the middle with S.T 4 I.K imprinted boldly in the middle and it seemed to stand out more than all the others.

"Selphie Tilmitt, could you please remove that gum." The teacher snarled.

Selphie, the girl who sat beside Rinoa, blew another bubble in defiance and Rinoa admired her for her courage. Rinoa would've walked straight up to the front of the classroom and threw it immediately in the rubbish.

The teacher growled and picked up the rubbish bin, he walked towards Selphie and held it out in front of her. She smiled sweetly at him, took the gum out of her mouth and stuck it on the bottom of the desk.

"That's it Selphie! You will come here at lunch time and pick off every single piece of chewing gum off the bottom of these desks."

"I gotta go to Mr Harrison's class and polish all the Bunsen burners." Selphie replied while pulling out her nail file.

She started filing her nails and smiled in satisfaction at her damn near perfect nails.

The teacher grimaced at her but didn't continue the argument any further, deciding that it was better to be left alone for a bit until he could calm down.

"See me after class." The teacher whispered menacingly.

Home room was soon over, Rinoa hadn't heard a lot from Squall but noticed him waiting impatiently for Selphie once class had finished. He rolled his eyes as he heard their teacher screaming at Selphie at the top of his voice.

"Umm, excuse me?" Rinoa said quietly.

Squall stared at her for a second with a "why the fuck are you talking to me" look before a look of recognition came over his face and he rose his eyebrows.

"Do you know where the English block is?" Rinoa enquired.

Squall glanced at the door as it opened and Selphie came out grinning ear to ear.

"What a loser!" Selphie laughed.

Squall turned back to Rinoa and Rinoa noticed Selphie giving her the same look Squall had, but no recognition came over her face.

"I'm going there now." Squall said curtly.

Rinoa nodded and walked beside Squall. She took note of the looks she was getting. People were avoiding eye contact with Squall and staring lingeringly at Selphie.

"Why are they staring at me like that?" Rinoa muttered to Squall.

He scoffed for a second then glared at a group of boys who scowled back. Rinoa could almost feel the tension between them and thought better of asking about it.

"You'll find out soon enough."

During the entire day she was approached by at least fifty people, this school was like prison, you were either in a group or getting fucked! She had found out why everyone was staring at her. She'd soon realized that

Squall and his friends weren't what were considered well mannered members of society. They seemed to have the biggest detest for any and all forms of authority. They also seemed anti mixing with the other students that attended the school and they seemed to be generally feared.

It was approaching lunch time and she'd been invited to sit with a group of girls that seemed like her type of people.

A couple of them appeared to be on the cheerleading squad, which was weird because at her old school cheerleaders had generally hung out together and with football players girlfriends. Every where's different though, Rinoa kept having to remind herself of that.

"So Rinoa, whats it like living in a big city." One of the blondes at the table enquired.

Rinoa didn't exactly consider Deling a "big city" not after visiting Esthar, now that was a big city!

"Alright I suppose. Deling's sort of lost its charm since all the soldiers showed up, it's not really the town I grew up in, but I miss it." Rinoa replied.

There was a couple of second of silence; Rinoa wondered whether they had heard her or whether they were in stunned silence or something.

"So, like, do you have mall and stuff?" another girl asked excitedly.

'Yep, exactly like my friends.' Rinoa thought as she smiled and shoved another mouthful of food into her mouth.

Rinoa listened to the girls talk about how cool it would be to have a mall in their town for awhile till she zoned out. It was an ability that she had taught herself, to just tune out what everyone was saying and go into her own world.

She starting thinking about Lucas and how she wished he was here with her. She never thought that she could miss someone as much as she missed her mother but it appeared that it was quite possible.

She was thrown out of her thoughts when a loud piercing siren starting screaming into her ears and water started pouring down on her from the sprinkler system above them all. all the girls at the table squealed and ran out of the hall.

Rinoa sat for a couple of seconds watching them all run out before she stood, she quite enjoyed the anarchy of the situation, something she wasn't used to at all.

Once outside they were told it was just a drill and someone had pulled the fire alarm, everyone seemed somewhat pissed off, except for Rinoa that was. And a certain group of people that stood not to far from her.

She noticed Squall and Selphie but there were four other people surrounding them. One she didn't recognize as the boy she saw in the waiting area of the office in the morning.

He had the same smirk plastered on his face that he had when she had seen him and was finding it quite attractive at this point. Rinoa shook her head and dismissed the thoughts; she couldn't think things like that. She had a boyfriend.

"Some classics never die." A spiky haired blonde boy in the group laughed.

"You could've at least done it in class! More specifically my Algebra class!"

Rinoa was shocked at the girl who said it. She was the most heavenly creature she had ever seen. She had thought that there was no one more beautiful in the world than Marcia but she was wrong. This girl had long cherry blonde hair that went all the way down her back. She was tall enough to be a model and had the face to match.

Her perfectly sculptured body had the blonde she'd seen in the office wrapped around it. They fused together and matched each other in a way that Rinoa had never seen before in a High School couple. Just by seeing them for an instant she could tell that they would be together for the rest of their lives.

Rinoa stopped staring when one of them glanced at her, she didn't want to be caught ogling at a group of people on her first day. Thought she couldn't shake of the feeling of fascination with the group.

"Who the fuck is that?" the smirking blonde boy enquired… otherwise known as Seifer.

Squall glanced over at Rinoa for a second; he turned back to his friends and sighed. He didn't really want to make a scene with the neighbor girl, that could make his living arrangements quite uncomfortable.

"My neighbor, leave her alone." Squall replied.

"Ow, Squally's got a girlfriend!" Selphie said in a sing song voice.

Squall glared at her and it was enough to stop any future taunts. Squall had a glare that could melt the entire continent of Trabia.

"Whatever, I'm over this. I'm going home." Squall finalized.

Squall started walking towards the car park and was followed by the rest of his comrades. He sighed once again but didn't comment on it. He knew that they were only leaving because he was. He couldn't help it if he was a bad influence on them all; it wasn't like he was the worst one out of them all. That title was held by Seifer but he was definitely in the top three.

The only time he held the title of the worst of them all was when he was mad. When he got mad he tended to do things that most people would shudder at… like his best prank of all…

**FLASHBACK**

Squall stood in the cafeteria line, avoiding eye contact with most of the people there. He hated people staring at him but found that in his line of work it was a given.

He felt a tap on the shoulder and turned to see the football team… or most of it, standing before him. he rolled his eyes and turned back to the line, not wanting to have this confrontation at this point. Especially without any of his friends.

The quarterback spun him around and held his fist dangerously close to Squall's face.

"Don't you turn your back on me you fucking freak!"

Squall smirked and turned again, deciding that this was one disagreement that he wasn't going to be able to avoid.

He was spun around again and this time he was pushed against the metal cylinders that you push your tray along.

"I'm talking to you!"

"And I'm ignoring you, whats your point?" Squall said innocently.

"Listen girly! You fuck with my team one more time and we'll kick you and all your friends' asses! I'm sick of you strutting round like fucking Hyne!"

With that the team walked away, leering at Quistis dangerously as they did so. Quistis had just turned up and was approaching at the time. Squall glared at them all when they did this. Quistis was his friend, he'd known Quistis longer than he cared to remember and anyone who fucked with her, fucked with him.

She stuck her foot out when the last boy walked past and he toppled to the ground, his food splattering all over his clothes.

She elegantly stepped over his body and continued walking towards Squall.

"What just happened?" Quistis enquired, ignoring the disorder going on behind her.

"We're fucking them up!" Squall announced angrily.

It was that time of year again. The stadium was packed full of people and the crowd was going wild cheering on their team. It was before the game and the school colors were proudly plastered everywhere.

Inside the changing room's chaos ensued and the "star quarterback" wasn't present. In the end they had no choice but to go out to the field and try and play the best game they could.

In the center of the field was an object covered in a black silk cloth. The fans thought it must be just a prop for the performance at the start of the game and ignored it.

But Squall and co. who sat at the back of the stadium knew better. They all sat with smirks displayed upon their faces and if anyone had paid any attention to them they would've known that they had just done something big. One of the main rules that they all followed by was whats the point in doing something bad if everyone doesn't know about it?

The team ran out on the field and everyone went in an uproar.

The team all noticed the object in the middle of the field and on closer inspection they noticed that it was moving.

One of the members removed the cloth to see the "star quarterback" sitting on a chair with his hands tied behind his back. He had a gag in his mouth and had nothing more than a g-string on.

His body was splashed in blue and white paint… the other teams' colors. The crowd went in a deafening silence and no one really knew what to do. He squirmed around and the chair toppled to the ground.

No charges were ever laid and the victim couldn't do anything but accuse Squall and co. about doing it. They were too smart to actually let him know who had done it.

But everyone knew, ever since then it had been war between the two groups. It never came to blows, mainly because the football team was fearful that they might be the next ones in the middle of the football field.

**END FLASHBACK**

Squall chuckled at the memory as he stepped into his car. That had been about a year ago now but in the minds of the students it was quite fresh. They could've quite easily just kicked the quarterback's ass but public humiliation was much more rewarding.

Sorry that I'm giving the popular people the stereotypical mean look but y'know it kinda fits.

So… any thoughts?


	3. Chapter three

**The Delinquent **

Final fantasy 8 isn't mine, this idea probably isn't mine either but for the next couple of months lets just pretend it does!

Cheer cheer reviewers.

Squall chuckled at the memory as he stepped into his car. That had been about a year ago now but in the minds of the students it was quite fresh. They could've quite easily just kicked the quarterback's ass but public humiliation was much more rewarding.

Squall tapped his fingers on his steering wheel and listened to the intoxicating music. He glanced at his companion for a second to see her doing the same thing. He'd given Quistis a ride to school this morning and naturally was responsible for getting her home as well. He always looked out for his friends, sometimes it didn't really show but it was always there.

In the backseat sat Zell who also got a ride to school, but he always did. Zell wasn't allowed a car and lived a couple of houses down from Squall. Because of this he'd known Zell for quite some time.

"So Squall, who was that girl before?" Zell enquired.

Squall instantly knew who he was talking about and was quite curious as to why he hadn't asked sooner. He knew that Zell was an inquisitive mind and was almost proud of him for staying quiet for so long.

"My neighbor, I already told you that." Squall said casually.

But he knew that Zell wouldn't accept that, nor would Quistis. It was kinda hard to hide things from the two people who know you the best.

"I thought it somewhat unusual that you told us to leave her alone. Why would we do anything to her?" Quistis asked her intelligence and upper society background singing through her voice.

"I dunno!" Squall defended, he was frantically trying to come up with an excuse, he couldn't have a war with the neighbors, his mum would kill him. "Listen… y'know my old lady, she'll kill me if I start antagonizing the neighbors! I try to keep my life outside my home." Squall concluded.

He decided in the end that they were more than likely going to get it out of him in the end so he might as well get it over and done with.

Quistis nodded and Zell was going to continue his interrogation but stayed curiously silent. Squall headed uptown where Quistis lived. She was what one might consider filthy stinking rich. Her father had always been so upset that she went out with Seifer; he wasn't exactly from the richest place on earth.

Her father had inherited about eight casinos when he turned 18 and had never really had to work. They were spread out all along the world but her father loved Balamb and spent most of his time there. Occasionally he'd have to go to another city or continent to attend to business so Quistis had her entire mansion to herself. Or their house boat to herself… or the yacht… or the batch…

The houses started getting a lot fancier and Quistis started looking a little embarrassed. It wasn't that she was in Squall's crappy old convertible and they were middle class citizens it was because she hated the fact that the rich people up there flaunted their wealth. This part of town leered down at the town as if it was looking down upon it. She knew that that wasn't the case but it was always something she'd loathed.

Finally she reached her house and thanked Squall for the ride. She bid them both farewell and told Squall to come back and get her in about three hours. They had things to do tonight and Quistis had to start early.

If it isn't already pretty obvious Squall and co. have quite a disregard for the rules. Well Quistis being the brain that she is was quite useful in helping plan anything coming up. She was also very good and planning various escape routes and had gotten them all out of trouble on several occasions.

Zell jumped over the seats and sat in the front passenger seat. Zell couldn't go back to his house so he was going to Squall's with him. Zell's mother was one of the most feared people in Balamb, she had a very kind nature back she had a very hard backhand and didn't stop herself from applying verbal and physical punishments when needed.

Her motto was "you're never too old for a slapping". Fortunately for Zell she couldn't really hurt him and had never tried to inflict serious harm. After a couple of years her punishments became more of an annoyance than anything but Zell still didn't go out of his way to have them inflicted on him.

Once at Squall's they went inside and Squall made sure that Raine wasn't home. It didn't matter if Laguna was home; he would be too blinded with the excitement that Squall was home to worry about school.

Squall went upstairs to his room and dumped his bag on the floor. He heard Zell turning the TV on and hurried downstairs before Zell could make it to his kitchen. Zell would eat all of the contents in the cupboard if he got half a chance.

Squall heard another car pull up and parted the curtains to see that new girl exiting her car. He found himself watching her and couldn't quite understand why he was so fascinated with her.

She leaned against the car door and held her head up to the sky, obviously in deep thought. Squall saw her wipe away what he thought could be tears before he heard Zell behind him.

"Ow, Squall HAS got a girlfriend!" Zell exclaimed.

Squall groaned and walked away from the window. The last person on earth he wanted to catch him staring at some girl had just witnessed that very thing. Zell could never keep his mouth shut about anything and this would be no exception.

"Why don't you invite her over?" Zell enquired.

Squall groaned again, he fell onto the couch and covered his head with on of the cushions.

"Fine, if you won't then I will!" Zell finally proclaimed.

Before Squall had time to protest Zell was out the door. Squall called out desperately after him but to no avail, Zell was gone. It probably wasn't that Zell couldn't hear Squall it was more than likely that he was turning on his selective hearing and blocking it off.

Squall, for the third time in the last five minutes, groaned. He didn't particularly want her to come around; he didn't want her associating with him and his friends. He was sure that she would've heard about them during the day… found out what they were like and judging by her choice in associates she wasn't going to be another Selphie.

When Selphie had first moved to Balamb she was only fourteen years old. She had a popular girl's attitude with a bad ass temper. It only took two days for her to be officially labeled as one of them.

It was obvious that she had a deep rooted problem with authority of any kind and hated being told what to do. She always said that she was a free spirit and a free spirit can't be held back by rules and regulations. From the first day he'd met Selphie until today she'd always done what she wanted when she wanted.

Rules were just a complication in her life that she tried to ignore, like the fat kid down the road that's really annoying but knows your parents. You can't just beat him up and tell him to "fuck off" you have to just go out of your way to avoid him and ignore him.

From day one Irvine had been overly interested in her. To tell the truth Irvine was overly interested in most girls but she sparked his attention more than most. Since then they'd had an on again off again relationship because Irvine had a wandering eye. Most of the time it ended in the girl and Irvine getting a beating.

Soon Zell was back and it was obvious that he had Rinoa with him. You could hear Zell's obnoxious laugh from a mile away. Squall was surprised that Rinoa hadn't been put off by Zell's tattoo. It quite often gave him a reputation for being tough and staunch.

True as this might be it didn't mean that he wasn't the goofy kind hearted Zell that they'd all gotten to know. Regardless of what his true personality may be, if Quistis was the brains then Zell was the brawn. At least he was the best hand to hand combat fighter.

Zell barged inside like he owned the place, not bothering to knock or even call out that he was back. Squall was used to it by now and it didn't really bother him. In fact should Zell have knocked it would've annoyed him more because then he'd be forced to answer it.

"Nah that's not true! Who told you that?" Zell cried as they entered the living room.

"I dunno, some girl in Science class." Rinoa replied.

"Oh, Rinoa you've met Squall haven't you?" Zell enquired after a couple of seconds.

Rinoa nodded and waved, Squall nodded at her, choosing not to say anything as of yet.

Soon everyone was seated on various chairs around the room. Zell and Rinoa were enthralled in a conversation about what Rinoa had heard about him at school today.

Which apparently was a far bit. Squall found himself wondering if the school had nothing better to talk about.

'Maybe they should just get lives.' Squall thought as he listened.

"Most people actually talk about you." Rinoa said to Squall throwing him out of his daydream.

"Only good things I suspect." Squall said with a grin.

Rinoa bit her bottom lip, apparently not wanting to have to say this at all. She looked quite uncomfortable for a couple of seconds.

"No not really. You're not the most liked person at school." Rinoa stated.

"Coming from the people who go to that school I take it as a compliment." Squall laughed.

They all heard a creaking and all three heads shot towards the door. It slammed open widely and a tall long haired man stood at the doorway. His arms were filled with brown paper bags and he looked quite flushed. He had his long hair tied in a loose ponytail with a huge side fringe that had various grey hairs going through it.

Rinoa stared at the man and almost immediately deducted that he must be Squall's father. The resemblance was striking and Rinoa thought that by looking at Squall's father that Squall was going to be quite a good looking old man.

"Squall, is that you home?" Laguna called out.

"Yeah, we had study for the last two periods so I thought my time would be better spent at home." Squall replied.

"Oh Squall, you know you don't need an excuse to come home."

Rinoa was shocked, did that man just say that Squall didn't need a reason to come home! Her father would kill her if he knew that she was skipping school on her first day. Rinoa as shocked that she had but she didn't think she was ready to meet all these new people that just reminded her of her old friends.

"Laguna." Zell yelled out, "Have you met Rinoa?"

Laguna entered the living room and smiled warmly at Rinoa. She felt completely at ease with the smile on her and felt a wave of happiness going over her from it. She could tell that this guy was generally a happy-go-lucky, relaxed, care-free guy. She envied Squall for having such a laid back father, compared to her general father this guy seemed like a dream.

"No, you're the new neighbor, aren't you?" Rinoa nodded and Laguna smiled, he winked at Zell before continuing. "I'm so pleased that you and Squall are getting along…"

Squall had stood and pushed Laguna out the door before he could continue. It was embarrassing. Why did he have to talk to all his friends? Why did he feel the need to be involved with everything? And most of all, why did he feel the daily urge of embarrassing Squall and threatening his reputation with five year old baby talk!

If it got out that Squall's father talked to him like he was an infant then he'd become the laughing stock of the whole school, he couldn't face anyone if they knew. Except for his friends… and Rinoa now it seemed. But he was pretty sure that she wouldn't say anything, she didn't seem too fazed about it and seeing as she was only new he doubted that she quite understood the full extent of his reputation quite yet.

"Hey Rinoa, you should come with us on our mission tonight and meet the rest of the gang!" Zell blurted out.

Squall's eyes widened and he felt a rush of dread race through him. He didn't want to push her; if she came tonight then he doubted that she'd want anything to do with them after that. He'd known her for half an hour and all of a sudden Zell wanted to bring her on a mission that should she dob them in could result in expulsion or even community service of some kind.

"Oh I dunno. If it's alright?"

Rinoa looked to Squall for an answer; she gave him a wide-eyed look that Squall imagined that she was unaware that she was actually doing. But he couldn't say no. he didn't have the willpower to tell her no. she just affected him in a way that Squall hadn't felt before.

He doubted that it was attraction; he'd seen much better and had been with much better… which wasn't to say that she wasn't attractive it was just that he'd been horrible to girls twice as beautiful as Rinoa but she just affected him. He didn't want to let her down and he actually cared what she thought of him.

"Sure."

Yeah I know, nothing actually happened in that chapter and it was a total waste of time but I'm building up to the actual plot. Hell I haven't even introduced all the characters yet. I have to hurry things along though because its chapter three and I haven't even introduced Rinoa to everyone.

Anyways… what'd ya think?


	4. Chapter four

**The Delinquent **

I don't own final fantasy 8 or anything else mentioned in this story that probably has a copyright thing on it.

Cheer cheer to those who reviewed my story and to anyone else who has taken pleasure in reading it.

Squall waited with baited breath for his blonde headed friend to exit his house. He glanced at the seat beside him, taking a couple of seconds to stare at Rinoa who occupied the seat. He tore his eyes away before Zell could catch him doing it and looked towards the front porch of the house.

Out walked Seifer. His usual aura of arrogance surrounding him. Squall watched him approach; it almost felt as though it was in slow motion. He'd known Seifer for years and knew what he was going to react like when he saw Rinoa.

He'd done damn near the same thing when he saw Selphie sitting in Irvine's car the first time she came. The difference was that Selphie had hung out with them for a little while before she came… and she wasn't hanging out with the fucking cheerleaders!

Seifer leapt over the door and planted himself in the back seat. (Squall's got a convertible… it's not a flash one it's just a convertible)

At first he didn't even notice Rinoa, either that or it hadn't had time to register in his mind. Then finally it did, it took until Squall had pulled out of his driveway and started driving down the road but it still happened.

"Oh fuck, I thought you were Irvine!" Seifer exclaimed.

He sniggered at himself for a couple of seconds before his eyes widened and he sat straight up in his seat.

"Squall, what the fuck! What the hell do you think your doing?" Seifer yelled loudly.

Rinoa started to feel quite uncomfortable and wished that she hadn't agreed to come tonight. So far it had been alright, Zell had made conversation most of the way but Squall had seemed somewhat apprehensive.

"Nah fuck this, drop me off I'm not getting done!" Seifer continued screaming.

"Chill out Seifer, its all good!" Squall shouted.

"No its not!" Seifer replied.

Squall sighed and pulled over at the side of the road. He leaned over his seat and faced the back so that he and Seifer could discuss it. Then realizing that he was making Rinoa incredibly uncomfortable he stepped out of the car and pulled Seifer with him.

Rinoa sat in silence and glanced over at the arguing boys every couple of seconds. She was wondering what the hell she was getting herself into but was more worried that Seifer wouldn't come. If he didn't come then it'd be her fault.

"Maybe I shouldn't have come." Rinoa sighed.

"Don't worry about him; he just blows things out of proportion." Zell laughed.

Rinoa strained to hear what they were saying but they'd caught on and were talking in hushed voices. Soon Squall nodded and Seifer stomped his way back to the car. He opened the door and slammed it loudly but didn't say anything more about Rinoa's presence.

"We should have balaclavas or something for this shit." Zell said as they approached a café.

Rinoa's body froze up and she widened her eyes considerable.

'They're ganna fucking rob the café!' Rinoa thought.

"Nah fuck it, we'll be right." Squall replied as he parked and exited the car.

"Guys, I'm not down with this." Rinoa said quietly.

"What?" Zell enquired.

Seifer rolled his aqua green eyes and walked to the front of the car. He being one of the least dense people around at the time immediately knew what she had presumed they were doing.

"We're not robbing the place if that's what you think!"

Rinoa sighed and left the car. She smiled as Zell held the door open for her but her mind was full with thoughts of what exactly they were doing tonight. She knew that it couldn't be a law abiding thing, that she'd picked up from the conversation in the car.

As soon as she walked in she noticed Selphie and Quistis sitting at a booth accompanied by a long haired boy. She assumed he was Irvine because of the hair and what Seifer had said in the car.

"Hey babe." Seifer said Quistis as he sat down beside her.

She smiled and repeated the same acknowledgment before turning to Squall. She too obviously hadn't noticed Rinoa, but was a lot quicker than Seifer to pick up on it.

"Hey Rinoa, what are you doing here?"

Quistis was a bit more tactful on how she said it, much better than her other half.

"Oh Zell and Squall invited me." Rinoa replied.

Quistis turned to stare at them both, a smile was still set on her face but you could tell by her eyes that she was upset.

"Oh did they."

Suddenly something dawned on Rinoa that she hadn't actually noticed, the entire group had an incredibly large amount of black on. At first she assumed that they must be gothic or something but they didn't come off that way.

Squall had a pair of baggy black pants, damn near exactly the same as all the boys except for Zell who wore baggy black three-quarters. Squall accompanied this with a black muscle t-shirt and a long black leather coat that went down to his knee's.

Seifer had the same except he was lacking the coat.

Quistis had tight leather pants on that showed off her godlike body and Rinoa could tell that others in the group were taking notice of it. She had a black spaghetti strap top with this and a black beret tilted to the side of her head, her long blonde locks were left out and Rinoa thought she looked immaculate.

Irvine was… interesting looking as always. He had the baggy black pants and a baggy black t-shirt with "badass" written on it in bold red letters. The interesting part was the black leather cowboy hat that he had on his head. Rinoa could tell that he was definitely an individual… but she was starting to notice that they all were.

Selphie seemed out of place. While she did conform to the color code she seemed to have missed the memo about covering up. She had a cleavage showing long sleeved top on that had little flares from the middle of her forearm all the way to her wrist. She wore a black and grey checkered mini skirt and knee high black boots with dangerous looking heels on them.

Zell looked identical to the boys, except for the three-quarters which have already been mentioned.

Rinoa looked down at herself and felt immediately out of place. She had faded flared jeans on and a white sleeveless t-shirt. Nobody had mentioned it but she did feel like the odd one out.

"Oh shit, Rinny's ganna need something else to wear, that'll stand out and we don't need that!" Selphie burst out.

"I got extra's in my car, its always handy." Quistis replied.

Rinoa breathed a sigh of relief but at the same time felt a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach. She still had no idea what the hell was going on and it was starting to make her more than a little nervous. Finally she couldn't hold it anymore and had to ask.

"What are you guys doing tonight?"

She'd earned herself the undivided attention of everyone at the table and suddenly wished she never said anything. Maybe that would've been better but Rinoa had never been one to hold back if she needed to say something. She was shocked that she lasted this long at all without saying anything but she didn't really know these people and was a little bit shy.

"We Rinny, we. You're here to now." Quistis corrected.

"Fine, what're WE doing tonight?"

"We're breaking into the school and stealing our files. Not only that but Selphie has made a request for us to fuck up her home room for giving her another lunch time detention. You want your file too?" Seifer enquired in a sing song voice that Rinoa found a little too casual.

Rinoa's mouth was agape, she could understand why they didn't want her here and by the sounds of it this was a mild unlawful activity compared to what they were used to.

She wasn't sure if she wanted to be a part of this, she'd never dob them in, that wasn't what she was like but she didn't know if she really wanted to start her first day at school by fucking it up.

She glanced at Squall, who sat beside her, one look at his smiling face she didn't know if she could say no. she felt an attraction towards him and had tried to shake it off all afternoon. She was with Lucas who was ten times better looking and whatnot than Squall, but he had a personality and a charm that just grew on you.

He had an enigmatic side, an aloof side and a fun side. Rinoa had seen nearly all of his moods in the couple of hours she'd met him and wanted to know more. She couldn't say no.

"I haven't really got anything in my file that I want taken away." Rinoa said slowly.

"Don't worry girl, we can change that!" Irvine laughed.

Squall felt an uneasiness be taken away, Rinoa had basically been accepted. She hadn't even really tried and hadn't been aware that they were judging her but she passed. He hated that one thing about them; they did judge people even though it was the one thing about everyone else that they hated.

Squall was obviously going to assume that a new member of the football squad was going to be a dick and they were going to assume that Rinoa was one of them from that day forth.

Rinoa was about to come with them on an criminal activity, he and the rest of the gang were going to assume that she would be a part of the group and it was going to break they're hearts when she went back to the popular people tomorrow. Squall hoped she wasn't like that but suspected that she would be.

Half an hour passed and soon Rinoa was talking away like she'd known the group for years. She and Quistis were currently talking about school and Squall was actually quite interested in listening to what they were talking about.

It gave him a pleasant change from listening to Selphie and Quistis… while he loved them both like sisters after awhile of whose hot and who are not you get a little sick of it.

"But don't you do work in class?" Rinoa asked as Quistis informed her of their past exploits.

"Yes and most of the teachers love me. In fact I've had about three of them ask me why I'm with him," Quistis laughed, pointing at Seifer, "but the best way to fight the systems from the inside."

Squall glanced down at his watch and stood up.

"Right, we've got work to do."

Rinoa stepped out of the public bathroom wearing long black bellbottoms and a black turtle neck. She had a black beanie on her head and steel capped boots. As soon as she put hers on she noticed everyone else's.

She felt like a bandit, it was an exhilarating feeling that she wasn't quite accustomed to but was thoroughly enjoying it. Took a bow when she exited, feeling quite comfortable to act herself in front of these people. What a concept, actually being yourself. Another thing that Rinoa was used to but once again, quite enjoying.

Selphie wolf whistled quietly and she heard various claps around the group. She knew that a vast majority of them were sarcastic but it was applause nonetheless.

"Right, can we go now?" Squall enquired impatiently.

"Hold up bro." Zell said as he pulled something out of his backpack.

It was a bottle of black stuff that Zell dipped his finger in. he wiped it about half an inch below each of his eyes and did the lid back up. Placing it back in his bag he then nodded.

Seifer scowled at him the whole time, his face turning to disgust after awhile.

"Sweet merciful mother of Hyne! We can't take you fucking anywhere!" he snarled before leading the pack back out towards the road.

They all circled around outside a house a couple of blocks away from the house. Quistis informed them all from a plan of the school that she'd acquired while staying late one night that it would be safest to approach the school from behind and slip in one of the windows.

Irvine had checked out the windows over the last couple of days and found one near the ground that wouldn't be that hard to wedge open. They couldn't just smash a window or the alarm would go off. In reality nobody would come to check it out for about an hour once it started to annoy the people living nearby but they still didn't want to take too many chances.

All day Zell and Irvine had been setting off the alarms and fire alarms so that they'd think they were faulty. They did it tactfully, being experts in the setting off alarms department; it was something that they started on so they'd mastered it pretty well.

Selphie had provided some walkie-talkies from her little brothers; this meant that they could split up into two teams. One would infiltrate the office and retrieve the files, Seifer had given them enough information about the cabinet to let them now how to get to it quickly enough.

Unfortunately the principal had recently moved their files into his office and kept them in his safe, luckily enough for them no one knew that office quite like Seifer did and Quistis was a genius so they were kinda just relying on that.

"Alright, Seifer, Quistis and Rinoa you're coming with me. We'll infiltrate Principal Cid's office and retrieve those files. Selphie, you'll lead Irvine and Zell to your home room. Fuck. That. Place. Up. Contact me and tell me when your done otherwise once we're completed we'll come and help out. Should anyone catch us you all know the rules but try and avoid it cause it arouses more suspicion about who done this and we're already ganna get enough. Right… let's move." Squall concluded.

He clapped his hands together and the six menaces all took off towards the school. Rinoa stood in confusion not quite knowing where she was supposed to be going. It wasn't until Selphie grabbed her and pulled her along with her that she kind of understood.

"Whats the rules about getting caught?" Rinoa asked as they sped along towards the school.

"Squall always said that your only in trouble if you get caught, he saw it on Aladdin when he was like five and he's kinda lived by it ever since. So rule number one, don't get caught and rule number two is if you do you weren't doing nothing and nobody was with you." Selphie informed.

Rinoa gulped but didn't say anything. They soon approached a fence and Rinoa could see the school looming ahead. Selphie pulled her up against the fence and they scaled along it till they got to the back of the field.

Using what shadow they had they ran towards the side of the school. The moon was on the other side of the school creating a shadow to one side, after Quistis informed them where the moon would be at what time they deducted that now would be the safest time to go ahead with the plan.

Once they'd gotten around to the back of the school Rinoa saw Zell wedging open the window. He had a screw driver slid in between the window and was pulling it towards himself. The alarm wasn't going to go off so they could get away with things like this.

Soon there was a loud popping sound and the window flew open. Zell fell over with the force of it; he got up and put the screw driver back in his bag. Squall jumped in the window first, followed by Quistis. She helped Selphie who was behind her and started walking slowly down the hallway. Seifer was in next followed by Rinoa who got a hand from nearly everyone.

Zell gave her a hand up and Selphie helped her in. She was wide eyed and obviously a little sketched out. This being her first time doing anything like this was bound to make her a little nervous so they were trying to make her as comfortable and as calm as possible. If she started hard out sketching out it could mean disaster.

Once inside Rinoa followed Quistis as she led her around various corners. She had no idea where she was and it was pitch black but she still pressed on not wanting to look like a wimp.

She glanced behind her back and only saw Seifer, Squall was up ahead. She was momentarily confused as to where everyone else had gone and it only dawned on her when she remembered the rest of the plan.

Finally Squall stopped in front of a door near the front of the school. Rinoa recognized it as the office immediately.

"Would you do the honors?" Squall enquired.

"Why certainly." Seifer replied taking the pick from Squall's outstretched hand.

The "pick" as it was put was just a straightened out thin piece of wire, but it was all he needed. Rinoa later learned that Seifer was second best beside Zell at picking locks. Apparently Zell was an absolute genius at it, a real prodigy.

The door soon slowly swung open, making that high pitched creaking sound as it did so. Rinoa clenched her eyes together as it did so, it sounded a lot quieter during the day.

They burst through the door; Quistis headed in a different direction than Seifer and Squall and silently urged Rinoa to follow her.

She pulled open a large cabinet with draws that rolled out quickly. Inside were loads and loads of vanilla folders. All alphabetized and looking very neat and tidy. Quistis ordered Rinoa to take Quistis's backpack and fill it up with as many as she could. Quistis helped and they were soon stuffing them inside. They didn't bother to pick up the ones that fell on the floor but for ever one they dropped they'd grab four more.

"Why are we doing this?" Rinoa asked while she continued to cram the bag up to its brim.

"We can't just get ours. If we grab others as well they can't pin it on us. It's pretty strange if only our files are gone."

Soon Seifer and Squall came back out of the room looking quite aggravated.

"Fuck this, that safe wont open. Squall you stay here and help with this, Quistis, get this fucking safe open!" Seifer demanded.

"Oh no you did not just talk to me like that!" Quistis snarled as she walked towards the principal's office.

Squall stayed behind as he was requested to do and helped with the files.

"So everyone had a part in this, what did you do?" Rinoa asked after a little bit of silence.

"Aye?" Squall asked in confusion.

"Well, everyone else did something towards this and it seems to me like you did nothing." Rinoa said.

She had a terrible feeling that he may take offence to that but hoped that he wouldn't. She hadn't meant for it to come out as it did but her mouth had a bad habit of running away with her.

"I came up with the idea. Cid told me that if I get another black mark on my file then I could get expelled and/or referred to a military school. That was about a month ago now and so I decided that the easiest way to get rid of that problem would be to steal the file. I needed help of course because an ill designed plan could mean the difference between success and disaster." Squall concluded.

Rinoa raised her eyebrows; it was the most that she'd heard him say, except for when he was briefing everyone on their positions. He sounded so much like a leader, like he was naturally born to control something major. It was something that suited him to a T and Rinoa found the trait a little more than mildly attractive.

She nodded and went back to stuffing Quistis's bag. Soon it was too full to fill anymore and Squall started picking up all the files on the floor and tidily placing them back in the file cabinet.

"Appearance is everything." Squall said as he put the last one back in its place.

Rinoa glanced inside the cabinet before Squall closed it. She was curious as to why he bothered doing that, as soon as someone looked inside the thing they would know that heaps were missing but she didn't bother to say anything, she supposed that she'd find out sooner or later anyway.

As soon as that was done Quistis and Seifer ran out of the principal's office. They informed Squall that Selphie and co. had finished their mission and were heading back to the cars. She also told them that it would be wise for them to relocate themselves before they were caught.

Running down the dimly lit hallways Rinoa had a feeling that she didn't know existed. She was glad to be leaving and couldn't wait to be back in the safety of her home but didn't want this to end. It was so liberating, like jumping into an ice cold lake on a hot summer afternoon. Rinoa had a good feeling that this year was going to be like no other before.

When they finally did make it back to their cars they looked around but couldn't see Selphie and the others anywhere. Squall called out to them in vain but they received no reply.

A cold chill started up and Quistis and Seifer moved into Quistis's car. Squall sat down in his own even though it wouldn't shield him from any of the shrill bitter cold. Rinoa opened the door and sat in the front seat, watching the bushes that waved in the wind for any sign of life.

Suddenly three figures burst through the bushes and all three dived in the backseat of Squall's convertible.

"GO GO GO!" Zell screamed.

Quistis pulled out and with a loud burnout that sounded as if it took about an inch off her tires she was gone. Squall followed suit just in time to see two men run out after Zell carrying large shotguns each.

"What the fuck was that!" Squall exclaimed after the initial shock wore off.

"Well… You guys were taking forever! We got bored!" Selphie defended.

"Yeah and like, there was this house that we noticed and it was screaming out to be vandalized!" Irvine added.

"They had lawn ornaments Squall… lawn ornaments! You know I can't resist something like that. How was I supposed to know that they'd take it so seriously?" Selphie continued.

"I dunno, maybe because they're cops! Everyone knows that!" Squall retorted.

"I don't care who they are, how dare they have such dangerous weapons in their house! What if they'd hit me!" Zell exclaimed.

Squall sighed but didn't persist the matter. He was used to there antics, hell he was even more used to his own. He couldn't deny the fact that lawn ornaments were very appealing. It was nearly as bad as solar lights… nothing was more alluring than solar lights.

Wow that didn't take long at all. It's just that I'm really enjoying writing this! I wrote this one over a series of days so sorry if the information is a little off but I did try. Hopefully I'll be able to keep updates pretty regular, if you don't hear from me for over four days, I've probably got writers block.

But on a more important subject… what'd ya think?


	5. Chapter five

**The Delinquent **

I don't own final fantasy 8 or anything else mentioned in this story that probably has a copyright thing on it.

Cheer cheer to those who reviewed my story and to anyone else who has taken pleasure in reading it.

Squall sighed but didn't persist the matter. He was used to there antics, hell he was even more used to his own. He couldn't deny the fact that lawn ornaments were very appealing. It was nearly as bad as solar lights… nothing was more alluring than solar lights.

Rinoa approached her school the next day with a fair bit of trepidation, it wasn't that she was worried about the people or the teachers or anything else that she thought that she would be worried about today, it was more that she was scared the school knew who ripped them off and were going to pull her up about it.

She didn't care if they suspended her, in fact she'd be glad for the rest, it was more the fact that they'd tell her father. He was a stern disciplinary and although she would voice her opinion on any occasion if they were arguing, that didn't mean that she wasn't just a little bit scared of him.

She'd felt the force of his anger a couple of times before when she went a bit too far and it wasn't something that she wanted to repeat.

She spotted Squall's car nearly immediately. It did stick out. She wondered whether he couldn't afford a nicer car or whether it was the fact that he didn't want one. He did seem like the kind of guy that wanted to be part of a minority and having a shitty car definitely put him in that position.

She finally got to her home room and noticed quite a bit of chaos going on outside it. The popular kids were all standing in the corridor talking quite loudly and throwing Squall and Selphie the occasional glare. Squall and Selphie leaned against the wall on the far side of the hallway from the room, small smirks apparent on both of their lips.

Selphie was trying to hide hers desperately and it was blatantly obvious that she was trying not to laugh. There was a strange glimmer in Squall's eyes that Rinoa had never seen on anyone else in her life. It was as if he had just invented a revolutionary machine that would save the world and he was dreadfully proud of himself.

Rinoa stood still for a couple of seconds, not really sure where she should go. On the one hand she had a couple of people in that group that she'd had lunch with and would welcome her. On the other she did feel that she knew Squall and Selphie better and felt that she got along with them a lot better. But she didn't really want to be caught up in the wrong situation and hanging out with them could/would put her in that position.

In the end she decided that there wasn't really any decision to make, she enjoyed Squall and Selphie's company more and felt more welcomed by them that she ever had.

"Hey." She said as she approached them.

She stood in front of them, choosing not to lean against the wall.

"Morning camper." Selphie said exuberantly.

Rinoa was shocked that she had any energy at 8:30 in the morning. Squall, who seemed much more of a late afternoon sort of person just nodded in her general direction.

"What happened here?" Rinoa asked innocently.

"I don't know, someone fucked up the classroom." Selphie giggled.

Rinoa turned around and stared at the classroom, absolute shock was written all over her face, she looked as though she'd just found out her pet dog had been run over by a truck.

Then the teacher approached, anger was absolutely seething from him and he looked like he was about to blow up. He walked in his classroom and the howl that came out of his mouth damn near vibrated throughout the whole school. In fact Rinoa found out later that day that someone on the other side of the school actually heard that howl.

Rinoa managed to get a peek inside the class and had no idea that someone could fuck something up so quickly.

The white board that used to be at the front of the class had been torn down and shattered into about a million pieces, every single desk in that classroom had been tipped over and all sorts of things poured over the contents inside. There was a dildo glued to the teachers chair and porno was spread all across the room.

His desk had been spray painted all over with things such as: necrophilia lover! And bestiality freak. There was a fan at the top of the roof with open condoms pinned to the blades, it was going so they were outstretched and circling with the fan.

Rinoa gasped, if that was what she noticed in a couple of seconds she was very curious what it would be like on closer inspection.

"You're fucking sick." Rinoa whispered at Selphie.

"He was trying to make me waste my entire lunch time scraping off already been chewed chewing gum! Now that's fucking sick!" Selphie whispered back.

**Lunch time**

Rinoa brought her tray over to Squall and co. so far today she'd hung out with them in the classes that she had with them. Which she noticed was a fair bit. A couple she didn't have anyone but had met a couple of people that weren't as shallow as most of the populace at this school.

Quistis gave her tray a disgusted look. She shook her head and nudged Seifer, who was located beside her.

"Oh hell no, don't eat that shit!" Seifer warned.

"Why?" Rinoa asked, looking fairly confused. "Whats wrong with it?"

"Just six months ago Irvine found a dead rat in some of the coleslaw buckets. Him and Zell were in there trying to steal food before they had to go to fifth period." Seifer explained.

Rinoa gave her food the same disgusted look that Quistis had and pushed her tray away from her. At that instant Zell sat down, he looked almost scared the instant he had.

"Nah serious get that shit off the table. I don't want the black plague or something!"

Selphie rolled her eyes and dropped the tray on the floor. She handed Rinoa an apple out of her side bag and smiled. Rinoa smiled back but at the same time was stunned that she'd just discarded the tray on the floor. One of the teachers spotted her doing it and walked very quickly over to the group. By the time he'd got there everyone was seated and already talking about something else.

"Selphie, come with me." The teacher said loudly earning him the attention of everyone in the group.

Everyone thought it was about the mission last night. They quite regularly got everyone together separately so that they could see if there were different stories. It was a lot easier to have the same story when you're together.

"Excuse me sir but what is this regarding." Quistis stood up and said.

Rinoa admired her confidence. She didn't stutter or bat an eyelid as she said it. It was obvious that she never let any kind of authority seem better than her.

"Not that it's any of your business Miss Trepe but you see this tray on the floor!" he said back, obviously a little bit angered by her superior tone.

"Hey, you can't penalize me for protesting!" Selphie exclaimed.

"And just what are you protesting?"

"How shitty this food is. It's a health hazard! You couldn't pay me to eat that!"

"Yeah, maybe we should just ring the food storing healthy place thing." Zell added, also standing up.

Quistis groaned quietly and made a mental note that she had to educate Zell on how to speak English, it was apparent that he had absolutely no idea.

"I don't care, now your going to clean this up or I'm going to have to reprimand all your friends as well." The teacher threatened.

Rinoa was astonished, she'd never seen teachers talk down to people so blatantly before.

Selphie glared at the man, obviously past her anger level, this being a nice way of saying that she looked more pissed off than any person of her happiness is ever supposed to.

"You want this cleaned up." Selphie snarled.

She bent down and picked up a handful of spaghetti, today's special, and dumped it on the mans head. The room absolutely erupted in cheers and laughter. Rinoa didn't imagine that this was the type of thing that they usually got when they did something like this but was caught up in the moment and started cheering Selphie on as well.

"Here you go." Selphie said after smiling sweetly at him for a couple of seconds.

Needless to say Selphie got in trouble. Not only did she have to clean the mess up but she had to serve a month detention. Her parents were brought in and she was warned once again that she was on the road to expulsion for her continuing disruptions.

**After school**

Rinoa hadn't seen Selphie since the incident and was desperate to apologize for it. She noticed the group standing near a couple of cars and jogged towards them.

"Selphie I am so sorry about what happened. If I'd have known that that was going to happen then I would've…"

Selphie held up her hand and smiled, Rinoa was slightly relieved that Selphie wasn't glaring at her and accusing her of setting her up. Paranoid thoughts had been running through her mind since it happened and from her experience with her old friends she expected it to be quite the issue.

"Don't worry about it Rinny! It's all good. It got me out of two periods."

Rinoa sighed and while she was thrilled that Selphie hadn't taken the event to heart, she was curious as to why she didn't take it to heart and how often these things occurred.

"So, whats on the agenda tonight?" Irvine enquired, doing a complete 180 on the current subject.

Today was Friday so naturally there was going to be something to do. Rinoa was hopeful that they might invite her; she didn't really want to be at home tonight. Her father had gone away for the night for a course that he needed to complete that the job that had hired him required.

It meant he was away all night tonight and most of tomorrow, Rinoa wasn't exactly happy about being left home alone in a new house but she wasn't going to complain about it. She didn't like being around her father, he was a constant irritation and just being in his company made her angry.

She heard a loud familiar tune and nearly jumped out of her skin. The group glanced at her for a second as she grasped at her bag and pulled out her pocket sized cellphone.

On it there was a message that read as follows: Hey babe thought I txt u & c how u r. miss u & luv u.

Rinoa smiled giddily while reading and then re-reading the message at least five times. It was comforting to know that Lucas hadn't forgotten her already. She wished he was here with her but knew that if he was then she wouldn't have gotten the chance to meet Squall and co.

There were people like them at her old school and they weren't what were considered acceptable company. A lot of them hadn't always been that way, in fact most of them were normal at some point, and something usually made them change. Rinoa found herself wondering what it was that made these people change.

Deciding that it wasn't really her place to ask she dismissed the thought and concentrated more on txting her boyfriend back.

"Owww, is that your boyfriend?" Selphie asked in a sing song voice.

Rinoa nodded absent mindedly and continued what she was doing. She didn't notice the disappointed look on Squall's face or the eye roll from Seifer. Even if she had she probably would've dismissed it anyway.

"Whats his name?" Quistis asked.

Rinoa was shocked that Quistis even took an interest; she didn't strike Rinoa as the type of girl who cared for such trivial matters such as this one.

"Lucas." Rinoa replied as she snapped her cellphone shut.

She didn't really want to give out anymore information; she found herself a little uncomfortable talking about it while Squall was around. She just felt like she was letting him down even if she hadn't noticed his let down expression.

"Right, onto other more important matters." Squall interrupted.

He was a little over hearing about the hot new girl's boyfriend.

"I'll ring you guys in about an hour and tell you whats going on. I think the old ladies going away so Dad'll probably let us have a couple of drinks." Squall concluded.

Rinoa couldn't help but notice that whenever Squall was organizing something he sounded like he was briefing them on a mission. She thought that he'd get along famously with her father. Unfortunately for her, as she would learn later on, she couldn't be further from the truth.

"Hold up, what about Rinoa!" Zell exclaimed.

Rinoa felt uncomfortable being in the lime light, as Zell had so thoughtfully put her, and didn't really know if she wanted to be a tag along.

"Well she can come; she's like part of the group now!" Selphie replied.

At that exact moment two girls that Rinoa recognized as on the cheerleading team walked towards their cars. They pretty much had identical beetles, both of which were bright colors, and she nearly immediately noticed the shudders that her company let out.

"So like, tonight's ganna be wild!" one of them said, the blonde one to be more specific.

The brunette beside her defied the well known opinion, she was the dippiest girl Rinoa had ever come in contact with and it was obvious that she really needed to dye her hair.

"Yeah but I heard that Brett's not ganna be there, there's no point me being there if he isn't." the brunette said solemnly.

"C'mon girl, you know he will be! Besides Stacey's party is going to be the like party of the like century!"

Rinoa turned back to her group of newly found friends to see them all smiling at each other. Some smiles looked a little evil and she was a bit scared by them, she'd known them long enough to know that they were planning something. Even if they weren't vocalizing it yet, there was a scheme in motion.

Once again it was just another chapter where I defined the various characters personalities and whatnot. The next chapter should have a fair bit of Rinoa/Squall moments but I'm not promising anything because I haven't written it yet so I can't really say.

But for the time being… what'd ya think?


	6. Chapter six

**The Delinquent **

I don't own final fantasy 8 or anything else mentioned in this story that probably has a copyright thing on it.

Cheer cheer to those who reviewed my story and to anyone else who has taken pleasure in reading it.

Rinoa turned back to her group of newly found friends to see them all smiling at each other. Some smiles looked a little evil and she was a bit scared by them, she'd known them long enough to know that they were planning something. Even if they weren't vocalizing it yet, there was a scheme in motion.

Squall pulled out of the school car park with his mind clouded with more things than driving. In his mind he was trying to envision what they were going to do tonight. They hadn't gate-crashed in awhile and it was something that he knew it was one of Irvine's personal favorites, much like Selphie unrelenting desire to be put in detention.

Not to mention the fact that he needed to make it special. It was Rinoa's first gate-crash so he needed to make it magnificent.

He had an insistent craving to impress her; it was something he'd never really had before because before he didn't care what people thought of him so what he impressed upon people wasn't his concern. This caring business was starting to make him feel very out of his element, other than anger, sadistic humor, nonchalance and loyalty he hadn't really had much experience with emotions.

He had to admit his loyalty towards his friends and he also had to admit that he did have some feelings about them all; they were his best friends and had stood beside him when even he would've gone and that meant something to him. No matter what he couldn't deny the fact that no matter what he'd always be there for all of them.

Squall shook his head to dismiss these thoughts from his head. He had more important things to think about like tonight. Before he knew it he was driving down his street and happened to glance at his side mirror to see Rinoa driving behind him. She looked quite bored from what he could see but he couldn't exactly see her that well.

He pulled into his driveway and grabbed his side bag out from his backseat. He literally jumped out of his car and approached the fence that separated Rinoa's property from his own.

Rinoa noticed him straight away and smiled, Squall sort of half smiled back but was too worried about giving off a sleazy impression for an actual smile. Rinoa was soon walking towards the fence; her backpack slung under one arm.

"Hey." She greeted before she was all the way there.

"I was just thinking." Squall replied, he paused for a second to see if she was paying attention, which she was and continued. "I don't see the point in both of us wasting petrol so I figure, why don't you just catch a ride to school with me?"

Without even giving off the impression that she'd even thought about it Rinoa nodded happily, a smile spread across her cherry lips.

"Yeah that would be awesome. But every second week I'll drive so it's fair."

"Fair enough." Squall responded.

Squall felt confident enough to continue the conversation. He was a little worried that he was being a bit forward with the question before but saw that Rinoa didn't take it like he was trying to come onto her. Although he wasn't exactly a man of ethics he wouldn't _usually _go with someone else's girlfriend. Not unless the guy was a dick… or he really liked her… or she came onto him first… or maybe if…

"So you are coming tonight?" Squall enquired.

"I want to, if that's alright." Rinoa replied.

'Hell yeah it is.' Squall thought to himself. "I can't see how that'd be a problem."

"Alright cool, we'll umm…"

"Just come round to my place at about sixish, that's when the rest of them'll probably be round." Squall concluded.

Rinoa smiled vigorously, she was so pleased that they were all making her feel so welcome. She felt so at home with these people, she felt more comfortable now that she'd ever before with any of her old friends. Except Marcia and Lucas, of course she felt comfortable around them.

Well it wasn't like she wanted Lucas to see her looking like shit and Marcia did always comment on her choice in clothing. But they were special to her. She couldn't deny the fact that she did feel at ease with these people.

When she walked in the door she found a note sitting on her kitchen bench. It was from her father and basically told her that he'd gotten the internet on and she couldn't go on the computer now.

Rinoa let out an excited squeal, something that definitely wasn't characteristic of her and ran up the stairs towards her room. There sat her laptop, sitting upon her nicely polished desk that she stole out of her dads study to make the room look a little less barren.

She pounced on the chair and turned it on to begin emailing everybody!

Squall tapped a pencil against his head in deep thought. He couldn't think of anything that would make this a special night, everything had been done and even though Rinoa might not have done it, it was still done before.

Then an idea struck him, he knew it was a long shot, especially with his and rest of his friends' reputations, but it would definitely make it a night to remember.

**6:30 PM**

Squall tapped his fingers against his desk, waiting impatiently for everyone to get to his house. He couldn't unveil the plan until all were present and two were missing. Irvine and Selphie hadn't been seen in more than an hour and a half so Squall had a fair idea what was going on.

"Fuck it I say we start without them!" Seifer exclaimed.

He slammed his hand down on the bean bag that he was positioned on making a comically soft "chii" sound. Quistis bit her top lip to stop herself from laughing, she put a hand over her mouth to make it less obvious and coughed, trying to make the laughter subside. Unfortunately she was just making it more obvious and others began giggling along with her.

It seemed that not only she had been trying not to laugh, all the while still trying to hide it.

"You's are fucked!" Seifer snarled with a glare to all of them.

At that instant the door swung open, the room all looked over to it to see Selphie and Irvine burst through it.

"I know we're late but Irvine ran out of gas like miles from here so we had to walk. And I'm all scruffed up because we started hitchhiking and I fell over and fell down this ditch. That's when Irvine dived down to save me, explaining his apparent untidiness." Selphie exploded out really fast.

"I can totally back that story up, that's exactly what happened." Irvine added.

"Is that why your trucks on the street Irvine?" Zell laughed.

Squall rolled his eyes and sighed. It wasn't that he'd believed Selphie and Irvine, quite the contrary, he was more disappointed in there weak lie. He would hope that by now they would have more calculated stories, having to have to remember so many.

"What the fuck is wrong with all my friends?" Squall groaned.

Rinoa giggled lightly, hoping that nobody would notice. She wasn't quite sure if they were being serious or not and didn't want to upset anybody. She noticed everyone staring at Squall, who had now stood up. Irvine had sat on the floor leaning against the bed with Selphie sitting between his legs, resting her elbows on his knees.

Soon Rinoa too was staring at Squall, mainly because now he had started talking.

"Firstly I'd like to enquire, has anyone else thought of something original for tonight." Everybody shook they're heads, most of them unaware that they were supposed to. "Good, because I have."

The pure delight that came upon everyone's faces but Rinoa's, she noticed it instantly but couldn't understand why it had occurred. Squall too seemed awfully pleased with himself. She would soon find out that Squall's plans were usually fairly unusual. He definitely had a sinister mind but not in a torturing animals sort of way.

"I thought that we should make this special, seeing as Rinoa is new and quite literally has no idea."

Rinoa was unsure whether she should take that as a compliment, Squall had said it nice enough but it was kinda insulting.

"I figured we should do something big. My first thoughts were obvious; I thought we'd just gate crash, the minority kicking a stink up to the majority. But then I thought about and there are many more people like us. There's the nerds, the Goths… pot-heads and fucking allsorts. So I reckon… wouldn't they like to kick up a stink too? I know that convincing them will be a problem cause nobody really likes us much, but Selphie's performance today earned her a lot of power points. I bet if she talked to everyone then we may have a chance." Squall concluded.

There was silence afterwards. Squall was trying to figure out what they were thinking by their facial expressions but so far it was harder than he thought.

"That is fucking weak…" Zell sighed.

After that there was something that could only be compared to an eruption. The whole room exploded in a chorus of opinions, insults and basic noises of any kind.

Squall groaned, he wasn't aware that his thoughts would cause such a reaction but he couldn't be expected to predict such an occurrence.

Quistis stood up on the bed, earning her the attention of everyone, admittedly she had to do a little bit of yelling but soon enough she had everyone's.

"Well I think it's a damn good idea! Since when has something been impossible for us? I cannot believe I am hearing this! We're supposed to stretch the boundaries, push the limits… do the impossible! Anything is possible and I agree with Squall, we haven't made a real impact on this town in awhile, once we created legends, now we're repeating everything that's already been done. So I say we at least try."

Quistis was always a bit of a dramatic figure; she had a bad habit of getting quite passionate about certain things. Nobody could be sure if she was actually serious about this or if she was just wanted to go against Seifer because he said that it was a stupid idea and couldn't be done. Nonetheless she did put on a pretty good speech and it was obvious that she may have swayed a couple of judgments.

"Quistis is right; I think that it's possible. Everyone hates the preppy fucks a lot more than us." Irvine added.

"Point taken, strike one against the opposition but it still doesn't explain how we're ganna get hold of everybody before its too late and a lot of them are too scared of the 'preppy fucks' to actually do anything against them." Zell replied.

"There too scared to do anything as individuals but should there be a lot of us…" Squall trailed off.

**Two hours later**

Quistis hacked into the school's computer and had found out all necessary ways of contacting people. It hadn't taken her that long considering she was a prodigy at damn near anything she tried. Quistis was the object of a lot of jealousy from a lot of people for nearly everything she did.

Anything she set her mind to sooner or later she would master as if she was born to do just that very thing.

"We're all set." Selphie announced as she hung up the phone once again. "Only the library nerds said no."

"That was to be expected. They're too busy trying to be the dickheads best friends to go against them." Seifer scowled.

"Nonetheless I would say that it was a complete success." Squall beamed.

Rinoa smirked; she could see just how proud of himself he was. He made no attempt at hiding his delight and suspected that it was more to do with the fact that he thought of the idea rather than the fact that he prevailed.

"They're ganna met us in the parking lot behind the 'fat sow' café". Selphie declared.

**Another half an hour**

Squall pulled up to the parking lot, Rinoa accompanying him in the car. Once again he had decided that it was a waste of time for her to drive. Rinoa really didn't mind at all, the parking lot was a hell-of-a long way from her house and would waste quite a bit of petrol.

There were already about five cars there and Squall looked pleased with the outcome so far. Rinoa hadn't actually expected the plan to work but was happy that it did. She was a bit nervous about doing this but thought that what Squall had said was quite true, there was a lot of safety in numbers.

Although she knew that even with all these people there would probably still be at least a ratio of three to one. The school had a vast majority of preps and she had a sinking feeling in the back of her mind that something bad was going to happen. The scary part was that she had a terrible habit of her bad feelings being right.

"Are you sure about this Squall?" Rinoa said softly.

Squall turned to her; the most convincing reassurance smile Rinoa had ever seen plastered across his handsome features.

"Course I am. This is ganna be fun Rinoa but if you don't wanna come then you don't have to. I'll drive you home myself."

Rinoa smiled, she was glad to have that comfort, it did make her feel a little at ease but she still couldn't shake off her bad feeling.

"Any time I want?" Rinoa enquired.

"Any time you want."

Soon more and more cars started to turn up; Rinoa was quite surprised at the number of people that had decided to attend but was glad that more people were coming.

People from all over, Goths, punks… even the occasional nerd all came together to make a stand against the one group of people that they all equally hated. The people that went out of they're way to make everyone else's a bitch. This wasn't to say that the same couldn't be said about Squall and co. it was just that popular people tended to be a bit more malicious when it came to getting to people.

Rinoa had seen it, had stood by and watched it happen and had even been part of it, something that she was beginning to be more and more ashamed of. It was a part of her life that she didn't want her new friends to find out about, something from her past she wanted to keep hidden.

She wanted them to think that she was the innocent new girl, it was a look that she was good at and she was innocent. She'd just sat on the other side of the fence most of her life.

"Ready?" Squall enquired, glancing over in her direction.

Rinoa sighed and looked out her window to see Selphie and Irvine making kissy faces at her. Rinoa blushed and turned away. She suspected that they were supposed to be more aimed at Squall than herself but she'd still seen it and knew that if she was an outsider that she'd think they were going to hook up.

"As I'll ever be."

Once Squall made his speech, a particularly insulting one, well at least that was what Rinoa thought. One part included "You don't like us and we hate you even more…"

Nonetheless, they were on their way towards the party. It was now getting on about 8:30 PM and by memory Rinoa supposed that everyone would be either drunk or damn near it by now. She was getting a worse and worse feeling in her stomach and new that this wasn't going to go as well as planned.

"So tell me again why we're doing this?" Rinoa enquired.

"Alright Rinoa, I'm ganna let you in on a little secret. This is payback, and in about a week we can expect something to happen to us. Nothing terribly thrilling because y'know they're kinda dumb. Well not dumb just… lacking in organization skills…"

"Squall," Rinoa interrupted. "You're rambling."

"Ok, this is just comeback; they have to be expecting it."

Rinoa still didn't understand, Squall made it sound kinda confusing. She was used to this where she was from. They had their trouble-makers but she wasn't really accustomed to revenge.

"So what exactly do we do when we get there?"

Squall glanced over at her for a second, but in that second Rinoa saw the most incredulous look she had ever witnessed. Rinoa found it a little insulting.

Squall began laughing to himself, apparently trying not to make it too obvious. At least he was attempting not to insult her.

"Sorry Rin, but I aint never met no one before who didn't know how to crash!"

"Shut up! Just tell me." Rinoa whined.

Squall took a deep breath, a small snort escaping while he did so.

"It's just going in there. Just joining the party uninvited, it's not a new thing Rin. You just walk in and stick with us."

**The party**

Rinoa could hear the music down the street, it was loud and harsh just the way she was used to. She could see people outside, all of which were wearing bathing suits… a pool party, one of her favorites. Seeing it now she noticed what it really was, a way for perverted men to gawk at half naked women.

Squall pulled up a few houses down from the party; he informed Rinoa that they wouldn't be noticed until they were inside. This was the way this was going to work.

"Ready?" Squall asked as he turned to her.

"As I'll ever be."

Rinoa was startled as her door started to open and she noticed Selphie and Quistis on the other side of it, grinning like wild.

"Let's do it!" Selphie squealed.

Approaching the house was an endurance trial for Rinoa, the feeling in the pit of her stomach was getting worse by every passing second. She didn't want to go though, she didn't want to miss out on this and maybe if something did go wrong then she could help.

She felt something twist around her hand and looked down to see a hand intertwined with her own. She noticed the yellow nail polish immediately and noticed Selphie smiling at her as reassuringly as she could muster.

Rinoa returned the smile but it wasn't quite as convincing as she had hoped it would be, she felt another hand and found Quistis had grabbed her other.

She felt a bit more comforted now, she didn't feel so alone.

"You'll be fine." Quistis whispered.

Rinoa prayed that that was true.

Sorry guys I'm stopping, another chapter where nothing happened but I'm leading up to it. If you haven't noticed, I'll let you in on something; this isn't going to go well.

But anyways… what'd ya think?


	7. Chapter seven

**The Delinquent **

I don't own final fantasy 8 or anything else mentioned in this story that probably has a copyright thing on it that includes B1 and B2.

Cheer cheer to those who reviewed my story and to anyone else who has taken pleasure in reading it.

Rinoa's thoughts kept circling and circling around inside her head, the same thing over and over again. 'Get out of here… get out of here…' but she simply couldn't. Her head was telling her to leave but everyone was assuring her of how much fun this was going to be.

Everyone just kept telling her everything was going to be fine, and she believed them. What reason did she have to doubt what they said? As the music got closer she could finally recognize it, it was rap, she doubted that Squall and co. listened to too much rap.

She noticed all the people outside were staring at them, she probably would've been to. There was a fair few of them and they stood out. Rinoa could tell even by the clothes that her new friends wore that they were outcasts. She was starting to think that she needed to change her wardrobe. She was a little used to pastel colors and this didn't appear to even be a feature here.

Her feeling of trepidation increased even more when she noticed a boy in a letterman's jacket run inside, she knew just what he'd be doing as well. He'd be telling all the other jocks about this new occurrence, as well as all they're friends.

They were at the front of the crowd as well so any confrontation that would occur would have to start with them. They weren't just going to be part of the pack; they were going to be dead center of it.

Once again, against Rinoa's better judgment, she continued on inside. She saw the looks immediately, the abhorrence in everyone's eyes while they didn't have the guts to voice they're antipathy.

They'd been there barely five minutes before a crowd surrounded them. Leading they're pack was a flurry of letterman jackets. The most hated of the popular people, jocks.

"What do you losers think you're doing here?" one of them snarled.

"Enjoying the party, yourself?" Squall said, the confidence in his voice was commendable considering how badly they were outnumbered.

"Don't act cute with me dickhead!" the boy yelled.

Zell laughed loudly, obviously finding something terribly funny. Rinoa didn't think the situation was that great, she could already see the preppy girls zeroing in. their inch long nails glistening in the light.

"Squall, he thinks you're cute." Zell finally let out.

"Looks like you got yourself a girlfriend Squall." Seifer added.

Squall smirked, he liked the position he was in. His friends insulting and laughing at them, he knew that a lot of other people here would like it as well and it felt good to give someone else pleasure for once. For once other people were getting something out of what he was doing.

Rinoa felt someone grab her wrist from behind and before she knew it she'd been pulled back a couple of meters. She turned to see Quistis who shook her head seriously at Rinoa.

"You don't want to be up there, this is going to get violent and its ganna be quite bad up there. Stay here." Quistis warned before she boldly walked back to the front of the crew.

Rinoa pierced her eyebrows together, wondering why it was alright for Quistis but not for her. It didn't seem fair but she wasn't going to go ask why.

"I'm giving you all one chance to get out of here. Now fuck off!" another boy from the other side yelled.

"Go get fucked." Seifer laughed.

The boy glared menacingly at Seifer, daring him with his eyes to fuck with him. Seifer just smirked, an arrogant smirk that would set any anger alight.

"When I tell you to do something, you do it!"

That was when it all really started, at least from Rinoa's point of view. That's when everything changed for her. Her life was about to go through a roller coaster ride that would leave her different from the person she used to know. It would change her in ways that she had no idea she could change, her life was about to transform from being normal…to being much more.

Seifer's smirk grew into a look of unadulterated anger. The face of a madman emerged and to anyone on the planet it would've been frightening. There was no doubt in anyone's mind that Seifer threw the first punch. It was a bone cracking blow that made a lot of people in the room cringe. After that an all out brawl began… the first of many.

All around Rinoa chaos ensued, she didn't know what to do. She could see Selphie, Selphie was, without a doubt, mental.

She had some blonde girls' hair in one hand while she pounded down on her head with her other fist. The blonde was screaming and it was apparent that there was no way out of this for her.

Before Rinoa had time to decide what she was going to do with herself she felt a crack from behind. It sent her stumbling forward and Rinoa felt quite dazed by the experience. She'd never been hit before, this was her first fight.

She turned around, puzzlement quickly turning to fury. Without a thought Rinoa turned to the girl and dived on her, open slaps sailing through the air like crazy. While all this was happening Rinoa felt a clarity that she hadn't felt before, it was as if nothing in the world mattered and the only thing that did hold any importance was hurting the girl below her.

Rinoa heard Seifer yell loudly "When I tell you to go get fucked you go get fucked!" this woke her up from her trance and she looked down at the girl below her.

Below her the girl only faltered for a second before she rolled on top of Rinoa and started giving her the same treatment she'd been receiving no less than two seconds before.

It didn't last long before she was hauled off Rinoa and thrown away, it was Squall. He's saved her… kinda… He smiled at her and helped her up.

All around them pandemonium proceeded to go on but for just a brief second Rinoa felt more safe than she had in her entire life. As if as long as Squall was smiling everything was alright.

He winked at her before diving on some boy who had foolishly been near him. Rinoa grinned and was about to do the same but she heard an unfamiliar sound that seemed to make the entire party stop what they were doing. Everyone looked at each other for a second before it was realized that that sound was a siren… a police siren.

Before Rinoa knew what was happening Squall had grabbed her hand and they were running.

"Whats going on?" Rinoa yelled above the commotion.

"PIGS! We have to get out of here!" Squall replied.

They'd headed the opposite way that they'd come in, obviously going for the backdoor. Once outside Rinoa was helped over a large fence that surrounded the property by Squall and then he too jumped over it. They sprinted through some random's property before Squall's car came into view.

Squall slid over the bonnet then tripped and fell on the way down. Rinoa would've laughed if she wasn't so busy climbing into the car herself. Once both of them were seated inside Squall revved his engine and took off at break neck speed.

Rinoa found herself wondering how often he had done this, he was fairly skilled at escaping and she was quite glad that he had taken the time to grab her. The car began to slow down a bit and Rinoa was going to ask what he was doing until Seifer suddenly dived headfirst into the backseat.

After that there were no pit stops. Squall glanced absentmindedly over at Rinoa, he was unsure of whether she would be really into him and his friends after tonight. It hadn't quite gone to plan, he knew that he'd inevitably gotten into a fight tonight but he hadn't expected an all out brawl like what happened.

Squall noticed a small cut on Rinoa's bottom lip which he also noticed was curved up in a small smile. He could feel a bruise coming up around his eye and blood trickling down his noise, but it wasn't bleeding too badly so he wasn't too fussed about it.

"What a piece of shit!" Seifer snarled as he wiped a bit of blood from his own nose.

"Who got ya?" Squall enquired.

"Fucking Zell! He reckons it was an accident. I know damn well what that pussy did, he lined me up and fucking kicked me in the head!"

Squall chuckled lightly to himself; he didn't want Seifer to see him laughing at him. it was just such a Zell thing to do, Zell had a bit of a grudge against Seifer… lets just sat that Seifer wasn't always they're friend.

Squall started to zone out, thinking about things other than Seifer's urge to "smash" Zell Dincht. He glanced at Rinoa to make sure she was alright and was surprised to see her with her head facing up to the sky with her eyes closed.

She had a small smile spread across her lips and one arm extended straight out her side of the car. The wind blew through her hair lengthening her hair so that it seemed about twice as long as normal. She looked so at peace, and Squall slowly found it harder and harder to keep his eyes on the road. She was like Aphrodite… his Aphrodite.

Squall managed to snap himself out of his trance by turning the radio on, a familiar song was on and Squall tapped his fingers lightly on the steering wheel. By this point Seifer was in a trance of his own, staring with dull eyes at the scenery that flew past.

Squall knew that he'd be more than worried about Quistis, but she was intelligent… more intelligent than anyone Squall knew so she'd be fine. They'd all be fine, they were crafty.

Soon Rinoa was out of her own dream and realizing that she had no idea where they were or where they were going. She imagined that had she been living here for a little more than she might have some idea but it was a handicap that she was sure she'd remedy.

"Where 'bouts are we going?" Rinoa enquired.

"We always go here if we get separated. If we just txt each other or something it might be a waste of time cause when the cops lock ya up they take all your belongings." Squall explained.

It sounded pretty feasible so Rinoa didn't doubt that. She didn't exactly know for sure though cause being locked up wasn't something she had on her list of things she'd done.

Seifer sighed in the backseat and Rinoa realized for the first time in awhile that he was still here.

"Do you know how the others got out?" Rinoa asked.

She knew that Squall wouldn't because he was with her the whole time, if he knew she'd know.

Seifer just shook his head. He was going to give her an ear full on did it look like he knew where the hell they were and how should he know etc but decided against it. Although he was an asshole he was worried and she was new. Not to mention the fact that lover boy might get all anti.

Soon they were parked outside an old abandoned go-cart racing track. Rinoa thought it was pretty random but didn't mention it. It was quite convenient because no one would go there.

Rinoa noticed relief go fleetingly over Squall face and noticed a red car parked about two meters away.

Selphie and Quistis quickly raced out of the car and came towards Squall's. Selphie looked more excited than Rinoa had ever seen her while Quistis was more refined and looked more serene.

Selphie's hair was a mess and she sported a fat lip and a scratch mark down the left side of her face.

Quistis's hair was much worse than Selphie's; it was knotted up and surrounded her face that on any other female on earth would look horrible. But as per usual somehow, someway she managed to still glow with an elegance that any other girl would kill for. She had a small graze on her chin but it wasn't too obvious and she had a cut on her forehead that seeped a little bit of blood.

"Oh my god I canned that Rachel bitches ass!" Selphie laughed loudly.

She jumped up and sat on the bonnet of Squall's car, much to his displeasure. She was laughing and a huge smile was spread across her lips. Quistis had taken to leaning against the car and being unexpectedly silent.

"Did you see B1 and B2?" Seifer sneered.

"Yeah, they got in Irvine's car way after me and Quistis were in hers. I dunno if they got out aye." Selphie said her high spirits disheartened.

"They'll be fine Selphie, you'll see." Quistis reassured.

Damn near at that very second they heard Zell screaming. They all looked over to see Zell hanging out the window of Irvine's truck and Irvine rallying around the corner.

"YEAH!" Zell yelled as he nearly fell out the car.

Squall rolled his eyes but still smirked, he was glad that everyone got out. It wasn't too much of a mission to get out of that place but there was always a risk. Everything in life was risky it was just whether you were willing to do it. Squall was proud to say that he and most of his friends were more than willing to take any risk. It was what made his life more exciting.

"That was awesome!" Zell yelled as he exited the car. "People need more of that sort of situation in their lives!"

Zell was sporting a mean black eye that was already starting to bruise. He had a bit of blood on his chin and his knuckles were actually bruised and bleeding. His lip was cut deeply and it was more than obvious that he got into quite a fight.

Irvine didn't look too bad, just a bloody nose and a bit of blood. His jacket had a nasty rip in it though and there was a gaping hole in his jeans.

For the first time Rinoa noticed the state Seifer was in as well. He had a purple bruise appearing on the right side of his face, obviously from where Zell had kicked him in the head and a deep gash on the other side of his face.

"Damn." Rinoa breathed.

"What?" Irvine enquired.

"You guys look terrible!" Rinoa laughed.

"Hey you wanna see yourself girl!" Zell chuckled.

"SPEAKING of WHICH!" Seifer suddenly snarled.

He grabbed Zell by the collar and lifted him off the ground. Zell kicked his feet a bit but wasn't really doing too much to defend himself. He grabbed his own collar so he wasn't being strangled and his face was turning a little red.

"You piece of shit!" Seifer growled.

"I told you that was an accident!" Zell defended.

"I'll show you a fucking accid-"

"Seifer chill out, he said it was a mistake." Quistis cut in.

Like magic Seifer dropped Zell and sat back down. Zell smiled weakly at Quistis who smiled back. Selphie leaned over to Rinoa, a rather large grin set upon her features.

"She's got that boy trained so well." Selphie whispered.

Rinoa nodded and grinned herself. She had noticed that throughout her time with them. Rinoa glanced at Squall who had now taken his attention away from the calamities that his friends were to stare at the stars above them.

Rinoa too started staring at the stars above. In Deling you didn't really see the stars because clouds and pollution filled air blocked them out but here you could see them as if they were a picture specifically painted for you. They spread across their blue canopy and lit it up like glow worms in a cave. Rinoa couldn't deny their beauty and before she knew it she'd seen a shooting star dart across the sky.

She looked over at Squall to see he was staring at her too. She smiled softly at him and pointed one of her slender fingers up at the heavens.

I don't really like the ending of this chapter but I didn't really want to put anything after that. Hope you enjoyed the chapter nonetheless.

So… how'd I do?


	8. Chapter eight

**The Delinquent**

I don't own final fantasy 8 or anything else mentioned in this story that probably has a copyright thing on it.

Cheer cheer to those who reviewed my story and to anyone else who has taken pleasure in reading it.

They stood around the car, once the excitement had worn off, contemplating what they were to do next. It was only 9:30 at night so they couldn't just go home, it was a Friday night and going home at 9:30 on a Friday night just wasn't a done thing.

Quistis eyed Rinoa up and down; she really hated the statement Rinoa made with her clothes. Rinoa had a pair of faded light blue flared jeans on with a white sleeveless top and a light blue jacket. It screamed prep and was actually starting to bother Quistis to no end. It was obvious by what Rinoa dressed like that she wasn't exactly a menace to society in her old town.

'We'll soon change that.' Quistis thought with a smirk.

She coughed loudly, earning herself the attention of everyone.

"Well Selphie Rinoa and I are going to be having a girl's night. You boys can do what you want." She announced.

"Ow Quisty, that sounds like fun!" Selphie exclaimed.

"We can have it at my house." Rinoa added.

Rinoa cringed after she said the words, never in her life had she had a party at her house when her father had gone away. It was quite unusual for her to offer her house for anything.

'It's not a party,' Rinoa corrected herself; 'it's just drinks.'

"Sold!" Selphie proclaimed.

Quistis smirked at Seifer, noticing his disdain for her idea immediately. She knew that he was about to start on her, he didn't really like Quistis drinking without him there. Because of Quistis's beauty she often had guys come onto her… and she was a rampant flirt.

"So your ganna be at Rinoa's." Seifer said casually.

"Looks that way, but we may have to go on a mission into town." Quistis replied coolly.

"And go flirting with every guy you lay eyes on!" Seifer burst out.

"Better than you with your little hoe list! I'll do what I want!" Quistis shouted.

Seifer shrugged his shoulders and adjusted the collar on his shirt. He knew he was fighting a losing battle and if Quistis wanted to go out with the girls then she'd go out with the girls. Throughout their entire relationship Quistis had made it dauntingly clear that Seifer wasn't the boss of her and she'd do what she wanted.

"Fine, then we're ganna have a boys night at Squall's." Seifer declared.

Squall merely rolled his eyes; he could see that one coming a mile away. Plus he didn't mind the fact of getting liquored next to Rinoa. It just meant that when Irvine and Seifer went to meet Quistis and Selphie, as he knew they would, he'd get to hang out with Rinoa.

"Fine!" Quistis retorted.

Quistis stormed towards her car and signalled Selphie and Rinoa to follow her. Selphie hopped off the car and Rinoa waved before she too left the vehicle.

Quistis waited till Selphie and Rinoa were safely seated inside the car before she did quite a vicious burn out and left the boys in the dust.

Rinoa glanced over her shoulder as they took off; she grinned and flopped back into her seat. It wasn't long until the questions started though.

**Two hours later**

Rinoa made a grab for the Jack Daniels that sat perched on the coffee table in the lounge. She and the other two girls had gotten themselves quite inebriated on the alcohol they found in Rinoa's father's alcohol cupboard. And Caraway did not drink bottom shelf liquor.

Quistis rolled her blue eyes as she noticed her phone light up again. Seifer had txt her about ten times since they left him. Abuse at the start for just leaving him like that and after awhile you could tell that he'd been drinking.

The latest one read as follows; cum ova 2 Squalls & drink wif us.

"Nah!" Quistis declared into the phone, not bothering to txt Seifer back.

"How do you manage going out with that!" Selphie said incredulously.

"He has his good side. He's just an asshole!" Quistis laughed.

"Speaking of relationships!" Selphie exploded "Whats the deal with you and Squall!"

Rinoa felt the red rising up into her cheeks and she mentally tried to make it go away. The last thing she wanted was them to starting some half-assed scheme to get those two together. Once again Rinoa reminded herself that she had a boyfriend and wasn't going to jeopardize two years on a guy that she'd known for about two days!

"There is no me and Squall, he's my neighbour!" Rinoa defended.

Selphie giggled but tried to hide it. Quistis had gotten up and left the room once her cellphone started ringing. It was Seifer, obviously.

"He is so damn protective!" Selphie laughed.

It was apparent to Rinoa so far that when Selphie had a couple she became even more high-spirited, this was quite a feat for Rinoa to imagine possible. She was just always laughing.

Rinoa heard the loud thumping music coming from next door, she was a little nervous about going over to see them, as she knew would happen. She may have had a bit to drink and she was a little hazy on her feet but she still had some thinking power left in her. One side of her brain told her to go with it while the other, more logical side, told her that it was a bad idea and she should sit this one out.

"Love you to, babe." Quistis concluded as she entered the room, snapping her phone shut immediately after.

Quistis dropped her phone in her bag before bending down and picking up her drink.

"I told Seifer we'd see them in about three quarters of an hour, because before hand we are going to be giving Rinoa a bad girl makeover!"

Selphie squealed in delight and leapt up from her chair, spilling half her glass on the expensive seat she had been sitting upon. Rinoa cringed and the logical side of her brain started to gain more power.

"I'll run over to Squall's and get some of my stuff!" Selphie exclaimed as she ran out the door.

Rinoa took a large gulp of her drink, trying to forget the stain that Selphie's alcohol would undoubtedly leave. Selphie's sentence and struck a cord inside Rinoa and usually she wouldn't ask about it but she wasn't thinking clearly at the moment.

"Why are Selphie's clothes at Squall's? I thought she was with Irvine."

"Everyone always stays at everyone's house here. It's not like they're having a bit on the side! She'd probably have clothes at Seifer's as well." Quistis replied nonchalantly.

"But aren't you worried that something would happen between them?" Rinoa countered, shock ringing clearly through her voice.

Quistis turned to Rinoa, a serious face covering her features, something Rinoa hadn't seen on her in about an hour and a half.

"Rin, I believe that a relationship is all about trust. If you don't trust your friends then why are you friends with them? If you don't trust your boyfriend then why are you with him?"

The words echoed through Rinoa's head, she had no intention of refuting the fact that she had worried about Lucas cheating on her and she could quite confidently say that she wouldn't want Marcia staying at his house. Going by this opinion she didn't trust her best friend with her boyfriend which made her think about her relationship with them both.

Then a good comeback came to her.

"But Seifer's txt you about a million times in the last two hours! How can you make a statement like that with a straight face?" Rinoa laughed.

Quistis chuckled to herself; she had to think quickly about this one. Her good advice had blown up in her face.

"It' not that he doesn't trust me, it's that he doesn't trust every other male on earth."

At that second Selphie burst through the door. Her arms were filled up with clothes and she had the cord of a hair straightener hanging out from under her elbow. In her mouth was a toilet bag and skilfully held between her fingers was a hairbrush and blow-dryer.

Selphie dropped the stuff on the ground and grinned widely.

"Girl," Selphie sang, "you'll be a woman soon."

Selphie and Quistis were surprised by the amount of "saveable" clothes. There weren't too many but there were some to comment on. A couple of Rinoa's jeans were alright but most of her tops just HAD to go. Everything was bright colours, which just would not do. It seemed that Quistis too had some of her accessories left at Squall's house so jewellery wasn't going to be a problem.

Rinoa glanced up at herself in the bathroom mirror, she pulled at the top they had chosen for her and took a deep breath as she prepared herself for jewellery and makeup.

She was already wearing makeup but apparently it too was too "innocent" as they so eloquently put it.

Rinoa walked out of the bathroom wearing a pair of faded light blue flared hip hugger jeans which would be the only piece of clothing that she could safely saw was here's from there on up. Accessorizing these was a blue wrap around tie up belt with silver buckles all over it.

Rinoa had a dark crimson v-neck sleeveless top that was tied together at the front with gold cord. It showed a fair bit of chest, which Rinoa was used to and it had a V at the bottom that revealed her stomach up to her bellybutton. Around her stomach she had a silver belly chain that was personally Rinoa's favourite part of the outfit.

Rinoa stepped uneasily out of the bathroom. She was feeling a little out of her element at the moment wearing these clothes but she didn't want to say anything. All she wanted was to fit in.

"Now that's sexy." Quistis said with approval.

"Rinny, I didn't realize what a rack you had!" Selphie laughed.

"Come here." Quistis commanded.

Rinoa followed obediently and stood before Quistis and she instructed her to kneel down. With an eyeliner and mascara in hand Quistis began her tiresome endeavour to recreate Rinoa into the stunner that Quistis knew was there. Rinoa was beautiful as it was, her soft features and natural splendour made her that but Quistis knew from experience that there was always room for improvement.

**Roughly about fourteen minutes and twenty eight seconds later**

Rinoa looked at herself in the mirror and gasped; if she was a guy then she was in trouble! Any and all blemishes she had on her face were now a thing of the past; her cherry red lips were covered in sparkling lip gloss that Rinoa absolutely loved.

Her eyes had been made dark and dramatic, emphasizing the dark chocolate brown that they were coloured. Rinoa had always thought that her eyes had more of a puppy dog affect but after this little transformation Rinoa found herself staring into the eyes of a sultry, sexy maiden.

"Oh my…" Rinoa said, bringing her hand up to her mouth.

She finally noticed that her finger nails had been painted a dark purple, Selphie had been doing that while Quistis was doing her face.

Rinoa wasn't sure if it was the alcohol in her system that was making her think she looked attractive or the fact that she was.

"Squall's ganna go out of his mind." Selphie whispered to Quistis who nodded in agreement.

Rinoa turned to the two females sitting on her bed. She grabbed her drink of the side of her vanity and raised it to them both.

"Cheers." She said regally.

**Fifteen minutes and about three shots each later**

"I spose we better go see them." Selphie sighed.

It was more than obvious that she wasn't as let down as she was letting on. They were actually surprised that she hadn't said anything earlier.

"Yeah, c'mon Rin." Quistis said, extending her hand out to Rinoa.

"Uhhh…" Rinoa was having second thoughts about whether she should go or not, it wasn't that she didn't want to go, quite the contrary, it was just that she didn't know if she should. Lucas wouldn't like it; she knew that for a fact, especially if he saw her dressed like this. He wouldn't want her to go anywhere dressed like this. Not to mention the fact that if he had any idea that it was a certain attractive male that she would be going for. "I think I might just sit this one out."

Selphie gasped and covered her mouth sharply with one of her hands. Her eyes were wide and she looked scared. Quistis's mouth parted slightly and she had a quick intake of breath.

"Rinny, you have to come. It's a Friday!" Selphie exclaimed.

"No I can't, I'm not settled in properly yet and I should probably get around to that…" Rinoa made up.

Her mind was doing a triumphant dance inside her head while her heart was beating against her chest in protest. Usually she was one to just go with her heart, it hadn't steered her wrong so far but she couldn't. If she went with it this time she jeopardized her entire relationship.

Quistis raised her eyebrows and glanced around the room, they looked pretty settled in but she didn't want to come out and call Rinoa a liar. That's insulting and Rinoa hadn't done anything to receive such a thing.

"Alright Hun, but you know where we are." Quistis concluded.

She gracefully grabbed Selphie's hand as she made her way towards the door. Selphie stared at Rinoa downheartedly as she went, meagrely waving goodbye as she went.

Nearly immediately as they exited the house Rinoa heard her oh so familiar phone beeping. It was a message from Lucas telling her that he was going to ring her.

The phone's piercing ring could be heard throughout the entire house and Rinoa cringed at its shrillness.

"Hey." Rinoa said as she picked the object up.

She heard the thumping music coming from Squall's house and suddenly wished that she had gone.

Hey baby, hows things? Lucas said on the other side of the phone.

"Fine, I've made some friends and stuff."

I miss you.

Rinoa paused; she didn't really know how to respond to that. She could lie and say that her entire world was crumbling beneath her without him, but it wasn't. She was having more fun without him than she ever had with him.

Rinoa?

Rinoa heard her door open and slam loudly. She looked over towards the hallway and squinted her eyes against the darkness, trying to work out who was walking towards her.

She could make out two figures. Then they started running towards her.

Rinoa?

Lucas's voice was starting to sound more and more worried but Rinoa was too busy trying to work out who was in her house. She didn't feel threatened in any way but was still a little afraid.

Then Zell popped out of the darkness and threw Rinoa over his shoulder in the fireman's hold. Rinoa screamed loudly before noticing that Zell was accompanied by Squall. She laughed and let herself be carried out of the house.

RINOA!

Squall looked down at the phone that had been carelessly thrown to the floor. He heard someone on the other end screaming and smirked. It was obviously a male voice and the only male that Squall knew of from Rinoa's past was her boyfriend.

"Sorry mate but it's a competitive world we live in these days." Squall said into the phone before he hung it up.

Squall left Rinoa's house, turning off all the lights as he went and grabbing the bottle of Jack Daniels off the coffee table. He closed the door softly and grinned when he saw Zell running into his own home with Rinoa still over his shoulder.

His grin turned to a smirk as he adjusted the collar of his shirt and walked confidently towards his house.

Squall seemed a bit too cocky in this chapter but it's a bit late now. I didn't really like this chapter and the next chapter will probably focus more on everyone's relationships with each other. Y'know they're friendship and stuff.

Well that's what I thought… what about you?


	9. Chapter nine

**The Delinquent**

I don't own final fantasy 8 or anything else mentioned in this story that probably has a copyright thing on it.

Cheer cheer to those who reviewed my story and to anyone else who has taken pleasure in reading it.

Yeah I don't really know what was up with the "mate" thing either.

That night had been a mixture of many things for Rinoa; she had never experienced anything quite like it. Once everyone was intoxicated enough they went on a rampage. Rinoa did more juvenile crimes that night than she had done in her entire life. There was nothing too serious there, it wasn't as if they were robbing banks, it was more around the lines of throwing rocks on house roofs, also known as "roof-rattling".

Unfortunately there is always the bad with the good, in the morning Rinoa woke up with one of the worst hangovers she'd ever experienced. All her energy was sapped, her head was thumping inside her head and her stomach felt seedier than it had in her entire life.

She'd been jolted awake by the early morning return of Caraway, she'd always been sort of a morning person so Caraway was quite suspicious at her unenthusiastic attitude. There were black bags under her eyes and her hair was a mess, not to mention the fact that the entire lounge area smelt like stale alcohol.

Needless to say he blew his top, forbidding Rinoa from ever having parties here ever again not that it wasn't a rule before.

Rinoa's days passed like minutes and her life had gone into a whirlwind of incidents that could either be considered to be changing her for the better or changing her for the worst.

**1 month later**

Rinoa approached Balamb High, her arms linked in between both Quistis's and Selphie's. Things had definitely changed between Rinoa and everybody in the group. The three girls had become inseparable; Rinoa was always at least with one of them. She now understood why Quistis went against everything Seifer ever said, it was because he generally had a narcissistic attitude and needed to be brought back to earth.

She'd grown quite fond of Zell, she loved his humor, his outbreaks and his honesty but viewed him as more of a little brother type, she found the same thing with Selphie, it was more like your younger siblings. This wasn't to say that Rinoa wasn't babied herself; everyone felt an obligation to guide her and help her whenever she needed them. She had been saved by all of them on various occasions from various dangers.

With Irvine, somehow, she had learned to love him. After awhile she saw a caring side of him that he didn't show to many people. It was obvious even after two weeks that the Irvine she had originally met was just a shell of the person beneath, while he still acted flirtatious and charming you could see the faithful and loveable guy underneath.

Rinoa respected Quistis above all others though; she looked up to her in a way that could only be compared to admiration. Quistis herself had taken it upon herself to take Rinoa under her wing and teach her the ropes, not that the others weren't doing the same it was just that Quistis had taught Rinoa more than she had ever wished to learn at school.

Rinoa had also met a girl named Ellone, she was Squall's older sister and was looked up to by everyone. She was the picture perfect girl and it was more than obvious that she was the exact opposite of her brother.

Speaking of which, Squall… Rinoa had felt a bond with him that she had never felt with another person. He was captivating her in more ways than one. He was the most enigmatic person she had ever met and definitely the bravest. Living next to him she had learnt a lot about him in the last month, and the same could be said on his side.

They even had quirky little traditions that neither would break for the world. For example every Sunday Rinoa would go around to Squall's, eat cereal and watch the cartoons on TV with him. It was just little things that were really drawing Rinoa in.

She found that she was talking to Lucas less and less often now, he seemed to be too busy for her most of the time and she was more than likely way to busy doing something to talk to him. They shared the occasional txt but other than that it had really gone dead.

It was that day, walking arm in arm with her two new best friends that she would find out, totally unexpectedly about Lucas's visit.

She laughed as Selphie retold a joke about Zell that made Rinoa at least snigger every time she heard it. Rinoa noticed the people move out of her way and the sideways glances that everyone always gave her now. She didn't care though, she was having the time of her life and no one was going to ruin that. At least that's what she thought.

"Looks like we have another prep boy." Quistis said offhandedly as they approached the open doors of their school.

Rinoa looked over at him; his image gave it all away. From the back Rinoa could see his spiked blonde hair and tanned skin. He had a bright yellow puffy jacket on and a pair of dark blue baggy jeans on.

Rinoa shuddered visibly, this was the kind of guy she found attractive in the past, now she just saw an idiot wearing clown pants. Even her outlook on things had changed.

He turned, giving away the side of his face and it was enough to make Rinoa stop in her tracks. His blue eyes gave it away… it was Lucas.

"Whats wrong Rinny?" Selphie asked, concern seeping through in her voice.

Rinoa didn't take her eyes off the boy, she couldn't speak. There was a mixture of happiness and dread rocketing through her body. She found a part of her didn't want him to see her, she wanted to appear invisible to him. She couldn't face him here; she had a reputation here not to mention the fact that if he so much as touches her he'd probably get his ass kicked.

"You look like you saw a ghost!" Quistis stated.

She turned her attention towards whatever was freaking Rinoa out and just saw a bunch of preppy fucks, as per usual. Then her ears caught on to the last part of the boys words. He was looking for Rinoa; he was asking every preppy person in sight if they'd seen Rinoa.

Rinoa took a deep breath and walked as confidently as she could towards him. she played with her hair a little bit, but all she managed to do was the scruff it up more and make herself look less and less like the former Rinoa.

"Lucas?" Rinoa said quietly.

Rinoa noticed the sneer behind all the faces around her and suddenly wished she had Squall beside her to reassure her that it was going to be alright. No one reassured her like Squall could.

Lucas slowly turned, the happiness on his face slowly turning to shock as he stared at Rinoa.

He stared at her new "fashion statement" with alarm written on his features. His eyes roaming all over her body in a way that made Rinoa feel a little more than uncomfortable.

She had a pair of faded jeans with a black leather belt that tied up at the side. Her top consisted of a black, flared sleeved shirt that was rather low cut, revealing a fair bit of her cleavage and enough stomach to show her bellybutton. Still around her neck was a silver chain with a ring dangling from it, it was the one thing that she would never part with, no matter where her fashion took her.

"Wow, you've changed so much." Lucas breathed, unsure of what to say.

It was blatantly obvious that she wasn't the girl that he had known before and all the erratic behavior that she had showed him lately was starting to fall into place.

"You… uhhh… you look good." Rinoa stuttered.

At Rinoa's side about two seconds later was Selphie and Quistis, both giving Rinoa the most outrageous looks in the world.

"Well Rin, aren't you going to introduce us?" Quistis enquired.

Rinoa sighed, not really wanting Lucas to be any part of her new life. It wasn't that she wanted to cut him completely out, she still wanted to be with him but she was hoping that he'd give her a little bit of warning before just popping up.

"Sorry, Quistis, Selphie this is Lucas. I told you about him right?" Rinoa asked, knowing full well that she only revealed the bare facts and not a word more.

"Vaguely." Selphie said suspiciously.

Suddenly from behind them all, Rinoa heard her death sentence. She could distinctly hear Marcia's voice screaming. Rinoa turned to see Marcia run into her arms and hug her tighter than she had been hugged in a long time.

"Rinoa I missed you so much! Oh my Hyne, I'm ganna cry."

Rinoa tried to make herself seem invisible; she didn't want this to happen, especially not at school in front of everyone! She glanced over at Selphie and Quistis who were both giving Marcia equal looks of disgust.

"When did you get here?" Rinoa enquired wrenching herself out of Marcia's vice like hold.

"This morning, are you surprised?" Marcia squealed excitedly.

"You betcha." Rinoa groaned.

"Is there a problem here girls?" Rinoa heard Seifer say from behind her.

She dared not look for she knew that not only would Seifer be there but so would the rest of the boys. Not to mention the fact that Squall would be there. She didn't want Squall to know about her when she was like "them".

"No, Rinny's just introducing us to some of her old friends." Selphie explained.

Rinoa slowly turned, Marcia turning with her. Rinoa cringed, daring not to look any of them in the eye. When she finally did she didn't see the appalled looks she expected, there was more of a mixture of amused smirks.

"Rinoa," Marcia whispered, "you didn't tell me you had such attractive friends."

Rinoa followed Marcia's eyesight and noticed it settling straight on Squall. Rinoa had known Marcia long enough to know that she was now going to be after Squall, Rinoa didn't like that one bit.

"Hello? I'm still here." Lucas said, a little bit agitated.

"Don't worry, we haven't forgotten you." Quistis muttered.

Rinoa sighed, knowing what she had to do. She turned to Squall, making eye contact with him immediately. She took a deep breath before she started; she knew that they'd know sooner or later anyway, it might as well come from her.

"Guys, this is Lucas…"

Rinoa left the end of the sentence open, it was more that she didn't want to finish it than anything, but they knew. Rinoa didn't see Squall's face change, but his eyes told a different story. He looked away from her, his face now turned to the ground.

Rinoa bit her bottom lip and begged in her mind for Squall to look at her, but he wouldn't. Rinoa turned once again and hastily made her way towards her school, once away from the prying eyes of her classmates she started running straight for the girls' bathroom, her one solace in this otherwise unhappy time.

She never wanted to have to say that to any of them, she never wanted any of them to actually see the people she was affiliated with in her past life. This was just making waves in her perfect life and she wanted them gone.

"See what you did, fucking prep!" Seifer snarled.

Rinoa had become somewhat of a younger sibling herself to Seifer, although he wouldn't show it to anyone, he did look out for her and didn't like seeing her upset.

"What _I_ did! Why don't you all look at yourselves!" Lucas yelled back.

"And just what the fuck is wrong with us?" Zell growled.

While an argument started between Lucas and the rest of Squall's friends. He slipped away unnoticed, heading towards where Rinoa had gone. He knew that this was going to happen at some point, Lucas was going to visit and it was going just the way he had anticipated it would.

Knowing that she would've headed for the girls bathroom, he too went inside and crouched down so he could see everyone's feet. Thankfully Rinoa was the only person in here so Squall could basically say and do what he wanted.

"You doing anything in there?" Squall enquired, deciding he didn't really want to see Rinoa going to the toilet or anything like that.

He imagined that seeing that would really ruin his picture perfect view on Rinoa and might taint any feelings he may or may not have for her. He wasn't admitting to anything.

"No." Rinoa sighed.

Squall smirked and slowly slid himself under the door. Rinoa looked down at him as he did so, finding that even at times when life just didn't seem worth living Squall managed to brighten up her day.

Squall stood and straightened himself out. He leaned against the bathroom door and crossed his arms.

"You alright?" Squall asked.

"I'm fine. I'm just being stupid, I should be happy that he's here."

Rinoa faced the floor, not wanting to look up at Squall and see his face. She was so ashamed of herself, now everyone knew what she was really like.

She felt Squall's hand come under her chin and softly lift it up, making her face him.

"You're not stupid Rin." Squall said tenderly.

Rinoa leaned her head into his stomach, relishing in the fact that he wrapped his arms around her. She felt a tear slide down her face and she knew what she had to do.

"I don't love him anymore Squall…" Rinoa said quietly, "I-I'm ashamed of him."

Alrighty then, there was a bit too much Squall/Rinoa things for my taste but I did say in the summary that it was absolute fluff! The next chapter there should be a fight, a kiss and the first mention of Rinoa's dog. I'm not saying who's fighting who or who's kissing who but I guarantee that you'll be shocked.

Those were my thoughts… what about yours?


	10. Chapter ten double digits baby yeah!

**The Delinquent**

I don't own final fantasy 8

Cheer cheer anyone who reviewed my story or read it or thought about it for more than two seconds when skimming through all the stories.

"Wagging" is a slang term we use when we're ditching school for a period or for the day.

Many people might not like the idea of Zell being a skank but he is in this story. Its not that he doesn't respect chicks or anything it's just that he doesn't like the idea of committing to anything.

"You're not stupid Rin." Squall said tenderly.

Rinoa leaned her head into his stomach, relishing in the fact that he wrapped his arms around her. She felt a tear slide down her face and she knew what she had to do.

"I don't love him anymore Squall…" Rinoa said quietly, "I-I'm ashamed of him."

Squall stared at the back of her head incredulously, not quite knowing what to say he just blurted out with the first thing that came to mind.

"And you're only finding this out now?"

Rinoa lifted her head up and glared at Squall, it wasn't quite the glare that she had pictured it to be in her head but it was definitely interesting.

"C'mon Rin, just…" Squall stopped momentarily, thinking about the words he was about to say. Finally coming to a decision he let the words flow, "just give him a chance."

Rinoa nodded, staring down at the floor the whole while. This was terrible for her, she had a new life, and everything was going swimmingly until they decided to come along. She couldn't say that she hadn't missed them, sometimes she thought about them, what they'd think of her now and whether they'd be cool about it. She knew Lucas, he hated "these" sorts of people in Deling, and Rinoa doubted that Balamb would be any different.

"I don't think I'll be able to see you guys much for a couple of days." Rinoa stated.

Squall nodded, understanding that it was more for her friend's safety than for herself.

He couldn't deny for a second that he and his friends wouldn't absolutely tear them to pieces.

"C'mon, your boyfriend is waiting."

Rinoa walked close to Squall as they approached the now arguing group of teenagers. It appeared that Seifer was about to dive on Lucas and throttle him if it wasn't for Quistis standing in front of him. Selphie was bouncing round the group yelling the occasional "Kick his ass!" while Irvine begged her to shut up. Zell, not surprisingly, was standing near Seifer, his fists clenched at his sides, waiting to back Seifer up should anything happen.

Zell always backed Seifer up; in his warped little mind he had twisted his disdain for Seifer around to "no one's ganna kick his ass but me". No one knew how it worked and Seifer wasn't saying anything because Zell was an excellent backup to have, considering the fact that most of the people Seifer took on were twice his size.

Lucas on the other hand was looking particularly pale. This was understandable though, he didn't exactly have anyone backing him up. Marcia had disappeared.

Rinoa sighed and smirked up at Squall, he was already grinning and way too interested in the insults being thrown around to notice Rinoa smirking at him.

"You sticking your chin out at me! I will rearrange your face dickhead!" Seifer snarled.

Squall clapped his hands loudly, yelling "interception!"

Seifer looked over at Squall his face could only be compared to the sound of a roar coming from a lion. It was literally seething with anger and Squall knew that this could only end in violence. Somehow Quistis still had the courage to stand in front of him, she new that he would never hit her, she'd kick his ass if he did that.

Squall shook his head at Seifer mouthing the word "no".

Seifer glanced down at Quistis, who stood coolly in front of him, apparently not in the slightest bit worried. She looked up at him and smiled.

"Sorry babe but it's a bad idea."

Rinoa scooted between the two fighting groups, lightly tugging on Lucas's shirt, trying to pull him with her. She wanted to get out of here ASAP and quite a formidable group of people had gathered outside the school to watch the quarrel.

"Rinoa you've got school." Lucas finally said his temper completely cooled.

"I'm having today off; we've got a bit of catching up to do." Rinoa sighed.

Seifer stormed away from the group, heading straight for the football field. Quistis called after him but he wasn't listening to anyone.

"Whats got him so anti? He's usually in a good mood after annoying someone." Squall enquired.

"I dunno, he just straight out lost it." Selphie replied.

Quistis turned to Squall, a serious look on her face that made Squall hope she wasn't going to lecture him on something. She had a bad habit of doing that.

"I haven't seen him that mad in a long time Squall."

Squall nodded, he hadn't either, Seifer was supposed to be past all that now.

"Someone should talk to him." Zell stated.

"Off you go then Zell, see how well you'd do?" Irvine chuckled.

"Shut up Irvine!" Selphie scowled, everyone was slightly taken back by her use of his actual name.

"Ok… do you wanna go or do you want me to do it?" Squall asked Quistis.

"You go, I'll follow soon."

Quistis watched Squall nod and walk off; she waited until he was quite a way away before she turned to Selphie, Zell and Irvine. She had a weird look in her eyes, a sort of twinkle that kind of reminded them all of Squall when he was coming up with a plan.

"We're fucking him up." Quistis growled.

Selphie winced; she had prayed that it hadn't come down to this. Naturally Quistis had waited till Squall was gone before she said it; Squall would be against it on account of his situation with Rinoa.

"Seifer won't like it." Irvine warned.

"That's exactly why Seifer never needs to know. Lucas is just going to have a string of bad luck." Quistis replied.

Squall cautiously approached Seifer; he was sitting in the grand stand part of the field, his elbows resting on his knees. He seemed to have calmed down considerably but Squall was still a bit weary about approaching him.

"What was that about?" Squall enquired.

Seifer sighed, he knew that someone was going to come after him and it was more than likely going to have been Squall. They weren't exactly going to send Selphie to talk to him.

"I dunno. I just lost it." Seifer stated.

Squall nodded, understanding completely what that was like. Most seventeen year olds did know what it was like to just loose it. Your emotions are so tightly wound up its easy for them to break.

"You fully freaked Quistis out." Squall said as he sat down beside Seifer.

It was now Seifer's turn to nod, he knew that he was probably going to have to apologise to Quistis for his outbreak. He'd reminded himself of what he'd used to be like, before Squall and co. were his friends and way before Quistis. Compared to what he used to be he was now a valuable member of society.

"I know, I know."

"She said that she's ganna come and talk to you soon." Squall continued.

"Cool, do you wanna fuck off then?" Seifer asked.

Squall smirked and nodded, standing up as he did so. He walked steadily down the stairs and smiled at Quistis when he noticed her approaching. Squall couldn't help but think that he was so good at consoling others, a skill that he had only recently picked up, but he couldn't work out his own problems. They were more of a mystery to him than why they took Jerry Springer off television.

'I loved that show.' Squall thought as he walked around the corner.

**Elsewhere**

Zell absent mindedly kicked a soda can towards the exit of his school, deciding that it was Friday and already too much drama had happened for him to even bother with school.

Irvine and Selphie had gone already gone to school, Selphie having too much stuff to attend to today to wag. Irvine dutifully followed her, knowing that she'd probably be the only one of them to actually go to school today so she needed someone to go with her and Zell was volunteering.

He stared up ahead and noticed that girl that Rinoa was friends with sitting on a bench down the road. Zell let his eyes roam over her body, not having the chance to do so earlier, he noted her scantly clothing and smirked, his type of girl alright.

"You lost?" Zell said casually, taking a seat beside her.

"Kinda." She sighed.

"I'm Zell." Zell stated, extending his hand to her.

"Marcia." She replied, taking his hand and shaking it softly.

Zell grinned, his imagination already taking over as he took back his hand.

Rinoa sipped on her iced chocolate, half paying attention to the words that Lucas was saying and half paying attention to the arguing couple that sat two booths away.

"I mean, I just don't understand whats happened to you Rinoa. You're like a different person now. If I'd have known that this was going to…"

"Rin." Rinoa interrupted.

"Excuse me?" Lucas exclaimed.

"Everyone calls me 'Rin' now." Rinoa said casually.

"See! I-I mean it's like you don't even care that me and Marcia decided to come and visit." Lucas stammered.

Rinoa rolled her eyes, quite sick of all the melodrama that Lucas was letting out. What did he expect her to do? Welcome him back with open arms and make googly faces at him until he left. As if!

"Well you come back into my life and expect every single little aspect of me to be exactly the same as it was before. People are a lot different here Lucas."

"No there not, the only different people I see around here are you! You and all your new friends!" Lucas yelled.

"That is it! You are not my father! You can't tell me what I can and can't do Lucas!"

Lucas's face fell; the words had flown out before he had time to catch them. He'd never yelled at her before about anything and here he was acting as though she should do everything he said. He knew how much Rinoa hated that, ever since she was little all her father had done was fly orders at her and Hyne save anyone who did it to her.

"Rinoa I'm…"

"Just fuck off out of my face." Rinoa growled.

Lucas did as he was asked, choosing to fight this battle when she'd cooled down a bit. The way he was acting was just throwing her towards her new friends; he came here to remind her that she still had a boyfriend. He had been going insane back in Deling, knowing that she was making new friends and living a new life without him. Ever since the phone call and that prick on the other end saying something about competition.

Lucas knew that it was one of the guys he had met today, at first he thought it must've been that blonde guy with the attitude but now he saw it differently, it could be any of them.

Rinoa sat with her hands holding up her head while her elbows rested on the table. She was stressed out to the max and had no idea what to do. She needed to talk to someone, someone who would understand what she was going through.

'I wish you were here mum… you'd know what to do.' Rinoa thought.

She shook her head, deciding that it was better not to dwell on the past, her mother was gone and it was just something that she couldn't change.

**Meanwhile**

Squall hadn't known what to once he'd left Seifer, everyone else was nowhere to be seen and he didn't really want to go home. He knew that if he went home he'd have to deal with his father and possibly his mother. She'd been after him since the police had rung up in regards to his whereabouts last Saturday.

He noticed an empty soda can on the ground and kicked it forcefully as he walked towards the car park. He noticed two people making out behind one of the cars; unfortunately it was near his car so he inevitably had to walk past them. He first saw the blonde spiky hair, the male of the couple.

"Zell!" Squall exclaimed, noticing Zell's tattoo a mile away.

Zell launched himself away from the girl, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand but missing most of the lip gloss that had smudged onto his face.

Squall then noticed the girl to be Rinoa's friend; he didn't know the name but recognised her face.

"Squall this is Marcia, she's from Deling." Zell said a little too nonchalantly.

"Hi." Squall waved sarcastically.

"It's a pleasure… Squall." Marcia said seductively.

Squall raised one of his eyebrows but didn't say anything. She had just hooked up with one of his best friends and was now coming onto him.

'Right-o.' Squall thought.

"Well I'll seeya later." Squall concluded.

He shook his head and headed towards his car, the images of Zell's mouth ravishing Marcia's making him shudder in disgust. Zell was such a slut.

Squall turned his stereo on and glanced in his rear vision mirror in time to see the two youths going at it again.

He reversed and took off out of the school, not thinking twice about the day he was going to miss. He had better things to worry about than stupid schoolwork. Like the appearance of Rinoa's boyfriend Lucas or whatever the hell his name was and whether Rinoa was as slutty as her friend back where she was from. Squall couldn't imagine that to be true, she didn't come off that way and he couldn't picture that her personality hadn't really changed that much. People can chance but their morals stay the same.

Squall drove straight past a familiar café and noticed Lucas walking out of it. He stood on the side of the road for a bit before glancing longingly back inside the café. It was then Squall saw Rinoa sitting inside.

'We can't both have her.'

Squall was going to pull over and talk to Rinoa but decided against it. He wanted Rinoa to pick him on her own accord and brushing up against her when she'd just obviously had an argument with her boyfriend wasn't very courteous. Besides, he lived right next to her; there was plenty of time for him to see her.

'I need to talk to the boys.' Squall thought as he travelled down the road.

Balamb roads were never that busy so he could get up to some speed. Police were generally a no show; they didn't really have any real reasons for a lot of police. There weren't murders in Balamb, businesses didn't get robbed and it was normally a pretty gentle natured town.

The kind of town you wanted to retire in, if it wasn't for the constant annoyances that he and his friends put the town through.

Squall drove through his small town, smiling at the various memories he had in the different parts of it.

He soon found that he was driving out of Balamb and following quite an old road further and further away from his town. He came upon an old abandoned building that somewhat resembled the shape of a beehive. Stepping out of his car he took in just how eerie it was out here. He'd never actually been here before and seeing such a magnificent building broken down and forgotten like this was quite depressing. He stepped over the corrugated iron fence that had fallen down and stared at the overgrown gardens that he imagined had once been superb.

Squall was about to go further but instead he reached into his pocket and pulled out his cellphone. While he was usually against txting and cellphones in general but this time merited the use of the infernal object.

Within a couple of minutes Squall had contacted them all and was eagerly awaiting for them to txt him back.

After looking around his surrounding for awhile and not getting anything back he decided to take a proper look around, if any of them showed up he'd hear them.

After having to barge down a huge door to get inside he saw a huge dome area with many paths leading off in different directions. He hadn't quite fathomed just how huge it was from outside but being inside really made him feel small. He found himself wondering how he'd never known this was here, he and his friends did missions out of Balamb all the time and he was only seeing this now. Surely a big stinking building like this would draw someone's attention.

Squall headed towards a large pair of double doors at the top of a small set of stairs. He pried the doors open and gasped as the roof of what seemed to be an elevator caved down on him. He laid there, agony overtaking him and darkness starting to cloud over his vision. He heard someone calling out his name but didn't have the energy to call back. He tried to lift himself up but didn't have the power to move even an inch. He finally closed his eyes and let the darkness engulf him.

Yeah there was no mention of Rinoa's dog but who wants to hear about her dog anyway? This chapter didn't take long and I didn't really want to crush Squall but I figured that Rinoa's having a hard time dealing with Lucas, so I'd add onto that Squall getting trampled.

Sorry if you didn't like it but I tried and I'm having a very stressful time at the moment so my characters shall have stress as well!

Hope I'm updating fast enough!

So… how'd I do?


	11. Chapter eleven

**The Delinquent**

I don't own final fantasy 8

Cheer cheer anyone who reviewed my story or read it or thought about it for more than two seconds when skimming through all the stories.

I'm having a moment… I did the unthinkable about two months ago, I sold my copy of ff8 and now I'm craving to play it! I didn't play it in about two years and NOW I choose to want to play it. There's some sort of sick irony in this!

Selphie closed her eyes and let the blowing wind wisp through her hair aggressively. She took in the invigorating feeling, letting it all overcome her as they sped down the old road. It had a few potholes and had she been anyone else she would've told Irvine to slow down, but Selphie loved the more hazardous side of things. She got off on that sort of thing, danger that is.

She finally opened her eyes and looked over at Irvine; he had a large grin set upon his face as he swerved off the road, avoiding a particularly nasty gap in the path. He let out a loud "Yeehaa" as he veered back onto the road.

"See that darlin', that's how real men are sposta drive!" Irvine yelled excitedly.

Selphie squealed and clapped her hands gleefully; nothing made her happier than Irvine being happy. She got her most memorable times when Irvine was excited; this time would be no exception.

This was going to be a day she remembered for a long time and had she known what lay ahead of her, she might've kindly asked Irvine to take her home.

For the time being Selphie was happy with her ignorance to the impending doom, she didn't need to know about hers and everyone else's lives turning upside down and would later find comfort in remembering the simpler times.

Selphie leaned her head out the window and screamed into the wind, the loud roar of the wind around her making her voice sound very meager indeed. She thought about her morning, how hectic it had been, but she loved the drama, it would certainly give Quistis Rinoa and herself more to talk about.

"Do you think they'll be pissed we walked out?" Irvine asked over the howl.

Selphie stuck her head back inside the car and rolled her eyes and rolled up her window.

"Why do you care? They can't tell us what to do. I for one am seventeen years old and if I want to be there, then I'll be there." Selphie said trying to make herself sound as old as her childish voice would allow.

Irvine nodded, his attention taken away from Selphie's explanation to the large building leering ahead of them. He tipped his hat and leaned up against the steering wheel trying to get a better look.

"Selph, look at that." Irvine muttered.

"Holy Hyne!" Selphie exclaimed.

They were soon pulled up outside it, noticing Squall's car parked not too far from them. Irvine got out of the car and slammed the door, Selphie followed suit. You had to slam Irvine's car doors otherwise they wouldn't shut properly.

They approached the building, Selphie standing close to Irvine. The creepiness of this place was everywhere; it hung in the air like a bad smell.

"Irvine," Selphie whispered, "I don't like this place."

There was a rusty old circular thing dangling from what appeared to be some sort of tail. It hung lowly overhead and Selphie was quite scared that it was going to fall when she walked through the doors to go inside. The door was lying on the ground, Irvine deducted that it must've been banged down recently.

"Irvy, are you sure we're supposed to be in here?" Selphie said her voice echoing off the hollow walls.

"Chill out Selph, weren't you just saying that you didn't care about what you were supposed to do?" Irvine exclaimed.

"Where's Squall?" Selphie sighed.

Selphie thought changing the subject would be the best course of action, this was one of those arguments that she just wasn't going to win and she was way too creeped out to bother fighting.

"I dunno, he'll be around here somewhere." Irvine stated.

They heard a car pull up outside and Selphie went back to see who it was. Irvine was way to into checking this place out to care who was there.

Selphie ran outside and back into the light. In there it was so dark, only the light that managed to get through the windows made any light. Windows seemed to be few and far between in there though so it only made the place look older.

Selphie was relieved to see Rinoa and Zell. She wondered how why they were together but figured they must've met up somewhere.

"Rinny! Zell!" Selphie exclaimed as she approached them. "You guys gotta check this place out, it's totally freaky!"

Soon they were all back inside. Rinoa clung onto one of Zell's arms while Selphie hung onto the other. Zell thought they were being stupid until a random Grat appeared out of nowhere and they had to hastily dart through a pair of double doors.

Rinoa looked down at her feet and noticed the plush purple carpet beneath her. It was easy to deduct that this place had definitely been important. What was left intact was unquestionably expensive.

Rinoa walked around the small room they had entered. It was easy to see that this had once been a doctor's clinic of some kind. There was a table covered in rubble that had collapsed on one side, through a small doorway Rinoa saw that there were two beds inside, probably for the injured or sick or something like that. The window above each bed had been smashed and the broken glass still lay shattered on the floor.

"This place has been abandoned for years…" Zell trailed off, picking up a clipboard that still sat on the desk.

"Congratulations Zell, did you work that out on your own?" Seifer said from behind them.

Zell grimaced but didn't say anything, knowing that anything he could or would say would only provoke and fight, one he'd more than likely lose.

"Where's Squall and Irvine?" Quistis enquired as she stepped into the room.

"I dunno, Irvy disappeared about ten minutes ago to have a look around." Selphie replied.

"Well we should find them both. I don't think it's wise to be traveling around here alone, this place looks incredibly old and could collapse or something." Quistis instructed.

The five of them exited the room; it was getting a bit cramped anyway. It obviously wasn't made for too many people to be in at once.

"Irvy! Squall!" Selphie yelled as they ventured around the rubble.

Irvine soon appeared out of nowhere, saying he had been in what he thought was a bunch of bedrooms. There was still no sign of Squall though and everyone was starting to get more than a little worried.

--------------------------------------------------------

Squall looked around his surroundings, he was wearing the most peculiar clothes ever and he had a glass of what he assumed to be white wine in his hand. When he noticed Zell come running towards him he relaxed a little, it was nice to see a familiar face.

"Yo!"

Zell came to a halt in front of him, grinning widely as he did so. Squall was glad to see that even though he wore the same dorky clothes as him he was still the same.

"S'up, Squall? I guess we're both SeeD's now, huh?"

"What the fuck are you talking about?" Squall scoffed.

Zell extended his hand to him, the grin never leaving his face. It was as if he hadn't heard a word Squall had just said.

"Put it there, man." Zell said cheerfully.

"You're fucking mental!" Squall exclaimed.

Zell seemed to falter and then retracted his hand, putting it back on his hip.

"Hah, even as a SeeD your still the same. Well that's typical of you. See ya."

"You're fucked!" Squall called out after him.

Squall watches in astonishment as Selphie approaches Zell and starts ranting on about some festival. His mind was still a flurry with questions about what the hell Zell was talking about and his use of the word "man" that was not a typical word for Zell to say. It sounded kinda gay.

"Hmm." Selphie sighed as she stamped her foot on the ground.

Squall was taken back by the fact that she was wearing the same uniform except femalised. She beamed at him and ran towards him, an excited smile never leaving her face.

"Squall! Hi!"

'Ahhh, sweet dependable Selphie…' Squall thought as she approached.

"We'll be busy with a lot of SeeD stuff, but work hard on the Garden Festival, too. Bye!"

With that she was gone.

"S'cuse me! YOU RIGHT THERE!" Selphie said in a demanding voice.

'Well that proves it, this is a dream.' Squall deducted.

He stares up at the ceiling and it didn't take long till he saw a shooting star. Tearing his eyes away from the sky for reasons he didn't know, he looked across the dance floor and noticed a figure standing in a white thigh his dress. It had a lace overlay and it soon became apparent that it was Rinoa.

She turned to him and smiled her pure smile that even in his dreaming state still managed to give him butterflies. She pointed one of her slender fingers up towards the heavens, reminding Squall of one month ago when she'd done the same.

She began steadily walking towards him and it wasn't long until she stood before him in all her angelic beauty.

"You're the best looking guy here." Rinoa stated confidently. "Dance with me."

"Of course, I'd love to Rin." Squall said, still not realizing that they couldn't hear him.

"Let me guess," Rinoa started her demeanor confident and cool, "You'll only dance with someone you like."

"Hit it right on the button girl! Let's shake it!" Squall exclaimed.

"Ok then… look into my eyes."

Rinoa began to swirl her finger in front of Squall's face and even he couldn't deny that it was slightly annoying. He was beginning to get more and more irritated with this dream.

"You're going to like me… you're going to like me… did it work?" Rinoa enquired innocence in her voice that Squall hadn't noticed before.

"Yes it did already now let's go!"

"You'll be fine. Come on. I'm looking for someone; I can't be on the dance floor alone!"

Just when Squall felt the warm tingle of Rinoa's skin touching his he was sent into darkness again, the dream ending before it really had time to start.

-----------------------------------------------------------

"C'mon Squall your starting to freak everyone out!" Irvine yelled.

There was still no sign of Squall; they had split up into two teams. Irvine was with Seifer and Selphie while Quistis Rinoa and Zell had gone to check outside.

It sounded like the logical thing to do and they knew he had to be floating around here somewhere, his car was still here. Squall wouldn't abandon his car; he loved that car more than he loved his parents!

"Starting to freak us out!" Selphie exclaimed.

"Shut the fuck up." Seifer hissed.

He was listening for sounds of movement, they had already encountered a few monsters on there way around and didn't really want to come across too many more. So far they hadn't injured any of them but there narrow escapes were starting to get more and more frequent.

"What the fuck was Squall thinking?" Seifer snarled.

"I dunno, why don't you ask him." Selphie said sarcastically.

"Selphie! You're a genius!" Irvine yelled.

Selphie blushed and made a dramatic pose, her ego seemed to boost about a foot out from her head at that complement.

"Why don't we just ring Squall's cellphone?" Irvine suggested.

"That's not a bad idea." Seifer commented.

"Glad I thought of it." Selphie said proudly.

---------------------------------------------------------------

Squall walked up the train hallway, heading towards a door that leaded to Hyne knows what. He entered the room and saw Rinoa lying on the double bed asleep. She stirred and slowly perched herself up on her elbows. She swung her legs over the side of the bed and stared up at Squall giving him a what-the-hell-are-you-doing-here look.

"Hey… You're…! You know, from the party… so does that mean you're a SeeD?"

"Again with the SeeD, listen Rin; I have no idea what you're talking about." Squall stated clearly.

Rinoa looked as though she was about to cry before she leapt off her bed and lunged at Squall. He caught her and spun her around before setting her back down on the ground.

"YEEESSSS! SeeD is here!"

"Hyne Rin, take it easy!" Squall exclaimed.

"It's just that… I'm so happy…"

------------------------------------------------------------

Seifer, Selphie and Irvine heard the loud, piercing ring of the phone echoing off the walls. They followed the sound, which wasn't an easy task; it seemed to be coming from all directions.

They walked up some stairs and saw the pill of rubble on the ground about two meters in front of them. When the ringing sound started coming from under that Selphie gasped loudly.

Seifer and Irvine immediately took action and started removing the cobble from the ground. Selphie nearly cried when she saw Squall's legs hanging limply out from under the ruins.

"I've gotta go tell the others." Selphie yelled as she started running towards the exit.

She jumped down the stairs and stumbled a bit before sprinting out of the building like she had Hyne herself chasing her.

---------------------------------------------------

Squall saw Rinoa sitting before him literally shaking with fear. She was huddled up and protecting her scratched up body with her arms. Squall rushed to her side, crouching down so that he was almost level with her.

"I was scared…" Rinoa said softly.

She reached up and grabbed Squall's arm, holding onto it like her life depended on it.

"… Really scared."

"It's alright Rin; I won't let anything happen to you." Squall said delicately.

"I was scared… I was really, really scared…"

"Rin…"

----------------------------------------------------------

"Squall's hurt!" Selphie screamed as she approached the trio.

Without another word they all took off, following Selphie's lead to where Squall was.

Quistis gasped, much like Selphie had as she saw the body. Seifer and Irvine were sweating considerably and Zell had soon jumped into help them.

Seifer removed a large piece of rubble that hid Squall's head and Quistis ran to him. She lightly tapped the side of his face, begging him to wake up.

"Oh Squall please don't be dead!" Quistis sobbed.

Selphie covered her face with her hands and leaned into Rinoa's awaiting arms. She wept into Rinoa's chest while Rinoa patted her back, still praying for Squall to be safe.

Zell let out a loud moan as he removed the last piece, revealing Squall's body lying flat on the ground. Quistis rolled his over onto his back and placed his head softly on the ground.

"Look! LOOK! He's breathing!" Zell exclaimed excitedly.

Slowly, after minutes that seemed like days, Squall's eyes gradually opened. He seemed dazed and half sleeping, half awake, he smirked.

Rinoa sighed, closing her eyes and thanking Hyne that he was alright. Although she hadn't really showed it, she had been more worried than she had been in a long time.

The prospect of his death just seemed too horrific for her to face. She couldn't bare the thought of living a life without him in it. She'd only known him for such a short time but she felt as though she'd known him all her life. He was a part of her life that she never wanted to take away.

"We better take him to a hospital." Irvine stated.

"No," Squall said suddenly, trying to lift himself up, "I'm fine, I just need rest."

"You might have a concussion." Quistis informed him.

"And what are doctors ganna do about that? Tell me not to sleep and stay away from heavy work, done." Squall continued.

He steadily began to stand, trying to emphasize his point; he stumbled a bit but was otherwise alright.

"That amazing." Selphie said in awe. "You shouldn't be able to walk!"

Squall scoffed and rolled his eyes, trying to make it perfectly clear that he was ok.

"Maybe I had an angel watching me." Squall laughed as he dusted himself off.

He felt a little bit dizzy but for some strange reason not that bad. While he was lightheaded and overly tired, he still didn't feel too banged up.

He slowly edged his way out of the wreckage, Quistis offering him a hand as he did so. She led him out and helped him keep his balance a few times; it appeared he was still very dizzy. This was worrying Quistis to no end but Squall kept insisting that he was fine.

"How did it happen?" Rinoa enquired as they all walked out of the ruins.

Squall stopped and turned to her, thinking hard about the question. He couldn't remember, however it had happened was a mystery to him. He couldn't even remember going inside the building. He remember pulling up outside, getting out of his car, txting everyone and then… nothing.

"I dunno…"

"Squall I don't think it wise for you to drive." Quistis said in a motherly tone.

"Well don't think any of you are driving my car!" Squall exclaimed.

"Tough luck cause I am." Seifer said as he yanked the keys out of Squall's pocket.

Nobody really thought it was the best idea for Seifer to drive; he was one of the more reckless drivers, especially when it wasn't his car he was driving.

Then again, who could really talk Seifer out of it, nothing anyone said was going to make him drop the keys and there wasn't much chance of them being able to get them off him like he did to Squall.

"Don't fuck my car." Squall warned as he sat down in the passenger seat.

"Seifer, take it easy." Quistis warned. "You can't have Squall hit his head again."

Seifer rolled his eyes and turned the key. He grinned when he heard the engine roar, Squall's car didn't purr or anything pussy like that, it roared. Squall's car wasn't exactly flash though so it was probably because of the hole in the muffler

Backing out slowly he did quite a formidable burnout before taking off at high speeds. Everyone winced, imagining Squall's face at a thing like that. Which wasn't to say that Squall didn't do exactly the same thing, it was just that it was a lot different watching someone else do it to your car.

"How did that whole boyfriend thing go Rinny?" Selphie enquired before she got in Irvine's car.

Quistis had already taken off in her car and there was only Rinoa, Selphie, Irvine and Zell there.

"I dunno it's fucked up. I've got no idea where the hell Marcia's gone either. If you see her could you tell her to just head to my house?" Rinoa asked.

"Sure thing." Selphie concluded.

Rinoa didn't notice the embarrassed grin that had settled upon Zell's face, nor the shocked look Irvine had given him. According to legend, Irvine was once the playboy until Selphie came along and ruined that. Once Irvine had settled down Zell took up residency as the local skank.

Exactly how bad of a skank he was no one could be sure, while he "claimed" to have slept with most of the cheerleading team none of them were admitting anything so it was a bit hard to figure out.

Nobody actually took him seriously though so most of them just figured that he was lying.

Once inside the car and on the road Zell turned to Rinoa, waiting for her to give him her attention.

"What?" Rinoa exclaimed.

"Do you wanna go see Squall when we get back in Balamb?" Zell enquired.

Another thank you to my reviewers, credit goes to you all.

Sad ending to a sad chapter, yes there is something wrong with Squall, what, is yet to be decided. My main thoughts are that he has severe concussion which needs medical attention or something harsher. If you have any idea's don't be shy about it because

I'm not 100 sure at this point.

Another thank you to my reviewers, credit goes to you all.

Other than that, what'd ya think?


	12. Chapter twelve

**The Delinquent**

I don't own final fantasy 8

Cheer cheer anyone who reviewed my story or read it or thought about it for more than two seconds when skimming through all the other stories.

Yeah I dunno about the whole dream thing, I know I've got a plot coming and forgive me if it's somewhat outrageous but we're up to chapter twelve and nothings really happened. Sure Rinoa's changed and all but I like a bit of excitement.

After a somewhat uneventful visit to Squall, Rinoa headed back home. She offered Zell a lift but he declined, deciding to stay and talk to Squall. Squall kept repeating over and over again that he was fine and when someone says something enough, you start to believe it. Rinoa of all people should've known that yet she let it go.

Walking inside her house she closed the door and leaned against it. Closing her eyes she only cracked one open when she heard footsteps coming towards her.

"Rinoa," Marcia said as she approached, "are you alright?"

Rinoa shrugged, not really knowing. She had too much going on and it wasn't even the afternoon yet. She wasn't used to this sort of excitement before eleven AM.

"I don't know Marcia, everything's just all fucked up." Rinoa sighed.

Marcia approached her, her arms held out in front of her. On impulse Rinoa extended her own, wrapping around Marcia's body and taking in her familiar scent.

She felt a tear slid down her cheek as she thought about how much of a bitch she'd been. Her best friend and her boyfriend had just come to surprise her and she was acting like a total dickhead about it.

"I'm sorry Marsh." Rinoa sobbed.

"What for?" Marcia exclaimed.

She was going to comment on the improper use of her name but decided against it, this was not the time for her to worry about things like that. It was strange to be called anything other than Marcia, most nicknames she heard her friends using were things like "ball-bag".

"I've been the biggest fucking bitch about you guys being here…" Rinoa said as she pushed Marcia away from her "I missed you so much."

Marcia smiled, feeling her own eyes begin to tear up. Without Rinoa being there everyday was torture for Marcia, seeing someone everyday for basically your entire life and then never seeing them at all was hard.

"Well how about this." Marcia began "Lucas has gone downtown to get some video's, why don't the three of us lax out and watch them tonight?"

Rinoa nodded, a smile settling itself on her face much like the one spread across Marcia's.

"I'd like that."

**Later on, roughly 7:47 PM**

Squall sat on the side of the road, Selphie on one side of him and Zell on the other. There was a carton of eggs beside each person and they sat waiting for cars. Being seventeen years old with nothing to do and having no one to buy you any type of liquor was frustrating, they had to release some tension somehow.

"Here comes one!" Selphie squealed excitedly as a car came round the corner.

It was dark by now so they could easily escape should anyone decide to get out of their cars, which most people did.

They sat silently waiting; as it got closer they all raised their eggs and threw them with a fair bit of force. They watched them crash on the side of the car, two of them slamming against the window, then jumped a nearby fence and ran as fast as they could.

They'd been doing this for about the past hour so they had slowly dwindled out of eggs.

Irvine spotted a café about twenty meters away and taking it as a sign, they all made their way towards it.

After ordering their food they took it outside, deciding to sit in the dimly lit seat and table.

"So where's ol' Rin tonight?" Zell enquired, his mouth stuffed with food.

"Her 'girlfriends' up remember and I doubt she really wants us mixing with them after this morning." Selphie replied.

"It was pretty funny though." Irvine stated.

"Damn straight." Quistis laughed.

Squall smirked, agreeing completely, it had been hilarious, and he could already tell that he wasn't going to be all that chummy with Lucas.

Squall's thoughts started drifting off, circling inside his head like a whirlwind. Before he knew it his friends were all looking at him expectantly.

"Uhhh… yes?"

"Oh that's great Squall! So your just ganna let him get away with it?" Seifer exclaimed.

"Let who get away with what?"

"There he goes again." Selphie sighed.

"Aye?" Irvine enquired.

"Squall going into his own little world again." Quistis replied.

Squall rolled his eyes but couldn't deny the truth, and it had been happening more and more often lately.

"Shut your face and ask again!" Squall snapped.

"Ow, testy." Zell muttered.

Squall sent him a glare that could melt a glacier; Zell grinned uncomfortably and tore his eyes away from Squall's deciding that it was better to avoid confrontation at this point.

"Are we just going to let this Lucas_ bitch_ come and take Rin away from us?" Irvine enquired venomously.

Squall thought about the question, there was no doubt in his mind what he wanted to do. He wanted to waltz his ass around to Rinoa's right now and beat that Lucas boy to a bloody pulp for even touching Rinoa, but he couldn't imagine Rinoa would like that too much.

"My answer still stands."

"WHAT!" They all cried at the same time.

It was times like this that Squall just wanted to say "personal jinx" but didn't think it was really the time.

"How can you say that Squall!"

"This is fucked!"

"You've been bitch-whipped!"

"Squall I don't understand."

"After everything you're just ganna let her go!"

"What a fucking waste of time."

"SHUT UP!" Squall yelled.

Silence followed, excluding the horrified mumbles that were still coming from Seifer. It was obvious that everyone was not happy with Squall's decision. In fact one might go as far as to say it would be safer for Squall to have agreed with them against his own wishes.

Squall looked around the café and noticed that most of the people in it were staring at them, it wasn't that he wasn't used to it, they got a fair bit of attention at school.

"What would Rinoa want us to do?" Squall continued, ignoring the gawks from the random's.

"To wake her up and make her realize that he's no good for her." Selphie stated.

"No, she'd want us to respect her decisions and let her make her own judgment."

There was a pause, no words were spoken as the group mulled over Squall's interesting debate. They all knew that Rinoa was a free-spirit, she didn't like people making her choices for her and if they did it, it might draw her closer to Lucas.

"Squall's right, the only thing we can do is lay and wait." Quistis sighed.

Rinoa roared down the road, her car swinging out at the back as she turned a corner quite fast. Marcia gasped in the backseat and clutched onto her seatbelt tighter. She was never really one for wearing seatbelts but after about ten minutes of Rinoa's driving she had changed her mind.

Rinoa had been all for the movie idea, until the second movie started and she realized just how long her night was going to be. So instead she was giving them a tour of Balamb, subconsciously looking out for any sign of her friends.

"Rinoa, I think you should slow down." Lucas said nervously.

"Alright alright you big baby." Rinoa said sarcastically. "We're here anyway."

Rinoa had taken them out to the docks; she had enjoyed the serenity of watching the stars above the water. It was a pastime she was used to sharing with Squall and co. they were the ones that had showed it to her. Rinoa wondered if Marcia and Lucas would understand and appreciate it like she did.

"So, whats here?" Marcia asked as she hastily got out of the car.

"This." Rinoa stated, raising her arms up.

Marcia glanced at Lucas, who in turn glanced back at her. Rinoa sighed, knowing that they didn't get it, knowing that they'd never get it. They were too closed minded to fully understand anything that she could show them, she was just retracing the steps that Squall and co. had taken to show her around the town.

It had been a night quite like this and they had stayed at the docks for about an hour and a half, staring at the stars and laughing like they'd known each other all their lives.

She'd really enjoyed that night, wishing that she could relive it everyday.

"Ok Rinoa, this isn't like you." Lucas finally burst out.

"Lucas." Marcia exclaimed.

"No Marcia! I'm sick of pretending!" Lucas declared. "You need to move back to Deling before you completely loose yourself in this kiddy fantasy life that you've got going on."

Rinoa closed her eyes, wishing that he would just go away. She let him rant though, not wanting to cut into his raving. Who was she to not let him have his say?

Her thoughts started to wander and she found herself thinking about what the gang was up to.

'Its gotta be a hell of a lot more interesting than this.' Rinoa thought.

"Lucas stop it!" Marcia shouted.

"Why Marcia! 'Rin'" Lucas started, making bunny ears with his fingers as he said her nickname, "doesn't seem to give two shits!"

Rinoa still didn't say anything, she figured he'd stop soon though; he couldn't be too far off… could he?

"But what else should we expect from a fucking delinquent?"

As much as Rinoa tried, the words did hurt. Lucas had never spoken to her this way before; in fact nobody really did apart from Caraway. Her eyes began to well up and she gritted her teeth together. She wanted to say something, to defend herself somehow, but she knew that she couldn't. She couldn't fight alone.

"Lucas!" Marcia yelled again.

"Why do you keep trying to defend her Marcia? She's not Rinoa anymore! She's this cesspool you see before you, nothing but another fucking criminal!"

Squall sat in silence, idly staring out the window, he could hear some kind of commotion outside but was used to seeing arguing couples. Hell he hung out with Seifer and Quistis all the time! He almost felt sorry for the chick though; she just had her head down, taking the abuse.

"Hey isn't that Rinny?" Selphie stated.

"Holy shit…" Squall breathed.

"Haven't you got anything to say Rinoa? Hmm? No you don't, because you know inside that every single word I have spoken is true… You're not the Rinoa that I loved, we've been here all day and you haven't even touched me. YOU HAVEN'T EVEN HUGGED ME! Two years… FOR THIS!"

Lucas was steadily working himself up and he was starting to scare Rinoa. She knew he wouldn't hit her, he couldn't, but she still couldn't get the inkling feeling out of her stomach that if he continued he might.

"So did you have this criminal tendency inside you in Deling?"

Lucas paused, waiting for her to answer, when she didn't say anything it only made him angrier.

"You can't even fucking answer, that's how useless you are now!"

"Well that was fucking charming you gutless dickhead." Squall stated.

He had calmness to his voice that would've worried anyone who knew him, but Lucas didn't know him. It was quite a heavy task for Squall to accomplish to, considering the fact that he was quite literally seething with rage.

"Fuck off you talent-less dog!" Lucas yelled.

Rinoa slowly clutched onto Marcia's hand, sending out a sort of subliminal message that she wasn't to be touched. She pulled Marcia off to the side, not speaking a word. Marcia understood though, anyone would've.

"I'll show you talent you fucking wanker!" Seifer snarled.

"No." Squall said curtly. "This is between me and Lucas. What do you say, mate?"

Lucas's eyes widened and he barely held back his gasp, it was Squall. The guy on the phone a month ago, it was him. Lucas also remembered them coming over together in the morning and the many times she mentioned them the occasional times that they managed to talk.

Lucas balled his fists, enraged with a hate that he was unaware existed. He'd just abused Rinoa and all but that didn't mean that he didn't care about her, he hadn't said anything that he couldn't fix. Now here stood the man that was more threatening to his relationship than any temper tantrum Lucas could ever have.

"Kick his fucking ass Squall." Zell whispered.

_And then a fight ensued… nah there is going to be a fight scene but that's for next time. Ok, sorry if the whole Lucas mentaling out at Rinoa seemed out of place and all but I just want him GONE! So now Squall's ganna kick his ass… or is he?_

_The next chapter might take a little bit, might being the word of the moment, because in order for me to write a GOOD fight scene,I need to be in a bad mood._

_Well anyways, all and all I think it was a pretty messed up chapter… what about you?_


	13. Chapter thirteen

**The Delinquent**

I am not currently the owner of final fantasy eight or any of its characters etc. what I do own is Marcia and Lucas; should anyone wanna buy them off me there current retail price is a marshmallow and two grapes.

_I thought I got a flame, I didn't but I thought I did, touché. _

"What are you ganna do you fuck-ugly piece of shit!" Lucas yelled at Squall.

Had Lucas known Squall's reputation, he might've stopped, had he known any of the people surrounding hims reputation he might've ran all the way back to Deling. But he didn't and he was going to find out the hard way, eventually that is.

Lucas wasn't dumb, he knew that even if he did beat Squall he'd have all the rest of them to deal to, but he had to keep his pride.

"You know what." Squall sat casually as he approached Lucas.

He's started stretching his arms above his head as he walked, it really didn't help his fighting one bit but it usually made the opponent a little nervous. If Lucas was scared though, he was not showing it. His chin was high in the air and the entire atmosphere surrounding him was dedicated to being staunch.

"People like you make me sick." Squall began. "You've got a beautiful girlfriend. Fun, spunky and loyal but it seems that instead of treating her with the respect that she deserves you treat her like shit, like she's your property or something." Squall's voice had steadily lost its calm and soon he was yelling, his face about three inches away from Lucas's.

Rinoa's heart skipped a beat inside her chest, Squall just called her beautiful, not to mention the spunky part!

"Stop fucking round Squall." Seifer shouted.

Squall turned to his friends, giving them all his patented fuck-off-and-leave-me-alone glare.

"SQUALL LOOK OUT!" Selphie screamed.

Before he knew it he felt a hard blow at the back of his head and he felt as if he went deaf for a couple of seconds as he stumbled forward.

Squall turned, a fierce look plastered on his usually nonchalant face. He let out a loud snarl and ran at Lucas, tackling him to the ground.

"This is going to be good, I can tell." Irvine said excitedly.

Dragging him up by his hair Squall launched his head straight at the concrete wall that stood no less than a meter away. Feeling the pain of his own nose breaking and the trickling of blood pouring down his nose, Lucas turned and grabbed Squall by the throat and threw him towards the edge of the docks.

Squall tumbled towards the edge, his eyes widening as he saw the icy water gleaming at him. With all his might he stopped himself about ten inches from falling off. Before he knew it Lucas was on top of him, pounding his head onto the wooden decking.

With every time his head smashed into the ground, he got a little angrier, if that was possible. Soon his rage was uncontrollable and he hooked his legs around Lucas's neck. With all his might he slammed Lucas onto the ground and cracked his fist into his face several times.

"SQUALL STOP!" Rinoa screamed.

Squall looked up at Rinoa and before he knew it Lucas had thrown him off his body. Squall groaned and rolled his body over to his side. He was about to stand when he felt a hard kick go into his ribs which were still a bit tender from the morning.

Squall coughed and sheltered his ribs from the onslaught, every kick took the breath out of him and Squall knew that he couldn't take much more of this. Action needed to be taken before someone stepped in.

He gritted his teeth together and grabbed Lucas's leg, twisting it around as Lucas fell to the ground. Squall took a couple of moments to get his breath back, wondering how the hell a prep learned to fight so well.

Grabbing Lucas by the collar Squall stood him up, wiping a bit of blood away from his mouth as he did so. He looked down at the blood on his hand, frowned at it then plunged his fist into Lucas's face. Now he was really mad.

"Bring it on _bitch_." Lucas spat out.

Squall brought his fist up but Lucas caught it and propelled it back towards Squall. With what Squall thought was absolutely brilliant technique, not that he was going to tell Lucas that, it smashed into his own face.

Squall stumbled back a couple of steps, his head feeling dazed and a loud piercing sound ringing in his ears. Before he knew it Lucas had him by his shirt and was repeatedly sinking his fist into Squall's face.

"Fuck this!" Seifer roared as he ran up behind Lucas.

He went to punch Lucas but he ducked and Seifer ended out punching Squall.

Squall's eyes rolled back in his head and he tumbled to the ground in a bruised and bloody heap. Seifer stood still for a couple of seconds, looking down at Squall and back up at Lucas.

"You!" Seifer growled.

He gave Lucas a sharp upper cut under his chin and Lucas's body fell to the ground beside Squall's.

"Squall…" Rinoa gasped.

She ran up to his body, crouching down beside him. She shook him and one eye slowly opened. His bloodshot eyes already had a bruise coming up around one of them and his lip was cut in two places. His nose was bleeding, but not too bad and he had a gash in his forehead.

"Where is he? I'm ganna fuck him up." Squall groaned.

"You already did, it's over now." Rinoa whispered.

"No, its not." Squall said seriously before he lost consciousness again.

**Later**

Squall groaned and slowly opened his eyes, he could see a blinding light but that was about it, everything was very hazy.

"He's waking up!" Squall heard someone say.

'Just let me die…' Squall thought groggily.

A felt a hand slap across his face and he lifted his head up trying to see who the culprit was.

"Quisty! He's been knocked around enough!"

"Squall, how many fingers am I holding up?"

Squall squinted against the light, trying to make up the hazy lines in front of his face.

"Three and a half?" Squall said sluggishly.

"Close enough get out of the fucking way."

Now Squall knew that was Seifer, anyone in a five mile radius knew it was Seifer.

"Seifer," Squall muttered.

"Yeah."

"I'm ganna kick your fucking ass…"

After Squall fully regained consciousness, well as on to it as he was going to get anyway, he came to realise that he was at his home, surrounded by all his friends and his sister. He had a freezing icepack on his face but knew better than to take it off, it'd stop the swelling.

"Raine's ganna loose it."

Ok so she wasn't his full sister, she was adopted before Squall was born. They never asked her to call them "mum" and "dad" because they never hid the fact that they weren't. They wanted her to remember that she had real parents and not to forget them. Her name was Ellone Loire and her parents died in a war about seventeen years ago.

"Mirror." Squall barked.

"You don't wanna see it." Ellone warned.

"Mirror!" Squall repeated.

Quistis reached into her bag and pulled out a small rectangular container, inside was powder foundation and a small compact mirror.

Squall opened the compact, closing his eyes as he did so. He opened them to see only a shadow of his former self. His face was puffy and bruises had formed all around his face. He winced as he touched his face, it was still tender.

"I-I'm broken." Squall said melodramatically.

He slammed the compact down on his bed, feeling the same rage start to swell up inside him that had before.

"That fucker's ganna pay!"

"Squall…" Rinoa whispered.

Squall recognized her voice immediately and she instantly had his full attention, she always did.

He's just been in one of the more major fights of his life; he was a mangled wreck and felt as if he moved parts of his body would break off. The question was, was she worth it?

"Yes?"

"Thank you. I've never had someone fight for me before." Rinoa stated.

"Well you better get used to it." Squall said, propping himself up on his elbows, "Cause I aint done yet."

"Squall." Ellone groaned in a motherly tone.

Squall rolled his eyes, wishing for once she wouldn't mother him, that's why Quistis was around. Ellone had always been like that though, although she couldn't protect him from the hostility that teenager life brought she tried her best.

"I'll be fine Ellone; he just caught me off guard." Squall sighed.

"Well you better come up with something better than your performance tonight." Zell muttered.

Squall tried to glare, but his eye was all puffy and it really didn't make a hell of a lot of difference so the only thing that really changed was that his mouth tightened a little bit.

"I'll think of something," Squall snarled.

**The next day**

Squall sleepily opened his eyes, the sun glaring through a part in his black velvet curtains. He almost felt normal, until he moved. He felt a stabbing pain go through his ribs and he crunched up in a ball, trying not to cry out. He didn't need anymore attention focused on him than he already would undoubtedly have.

Raine and Laguna still hadn't seen him and he didn't know if he'd ever come home in such a state before. Sure he came home with a huge gash between his eyes before, dripping blood all over the floor, and on many occasions had the odd black eye but a full on mangled face like this was going to cause a lot of waves.

He heard a soft knock on his door and he ducked his head under the covers, trying to pretend he was still asleep. He was going to draw this out.

"Squall?" he heard Ellone say faintly as she opened the door.

Squall sighed, thanking Hyne that it wasn't him mother.

"I'm awake." Squall said, his head still hidden under his blankets.

He waited until he heard her shut the door before he popped his head back up. He noticed her bite her bottom lip and wince slightly when she saw his face. He knew that it was going to be a lot worse today than it had been the night before, the bruising hadn't even properly came out yet last night.

"That bad?" Squall enquired, hoping like crazy that she was overreacting.

She nodded, earning her a groan from Squall.

"Please tell me Mum's not home!" Squall exclaimed.

"You're lucky, she went shopping with someone but Uncles here and he is going to freak."

By Uncle she meant Laguna. (Obviously)

As if Hyne herself had waited for the opportune moment for it to happen, Laguna burst through the door, about to sing his usual musical version of "good morning good morning GOOD MORNING".

His bright smile was swiped away from his face in a matter of seconds of walking in the room. He looked as though he was about to cry, as if he was receiving all the pain that Squall had gone through yesterday at once.

"Squall…" Laguna said, his mouth hung open slightly for a couple of seconds before he continued. "What happened to you?"

"Rinoa's boyfriend was being a fucking asshole to her so I got in a fight. As it turns out I was more evenly matched than I originally thought." Squall explained.

"How bad of an asshole?" Laguna enquired, taking a particularly large amount of interest.

"He was screaming at her in the middle of the docks about how much of a useless bitch she was. Naturally I had to intervene."

That was a trait he inherited from Laguna, he couldn't stand to see people being mistreated. If it had been anyone in the same position he probably would've said something but because it was Rinoa it made things all the more intense.

Laguna suddenly grinned and nodded his head. He chuckled slightly and didn't explain himself when both Ellone and Squall started staring at him.

"What?" Ellone finally burst out.

"Squally's got a crush." Laguna laughed in a sing song voice.

"Alright you can both get out now." Squall yelled as he threw a pillow at Laguna.

Ellone stood and pushed Laguna out of the room, fighting against all his protests.

"He does!" Laguna shouted, pointing excitedly at Squall. "Look he's blushing!"

"C'mon Uncle, lets go!" Ellone laughed.

"Look Ellone look!"

Finally the door closed and Squall was left in piece. He lay facing the ceiling for awhile before he got up and opened his curtains, his bedroom window giving him a perfect view of Rinoa's stained glass window to her room. He couldn't see inside her room but even the thought of her sleeping mere meters away from him made him smile.

He liked her being near him and he didn't know why. She was a girl that he'd known for little over a month and he didn't just want her around just so that he could get into her pants, which was the norm for Squall. It was as if her measly company was enough to satisfy him.

'Well this is different.' Squall thought.

_I hope that was up to standard. I tried to make a good fight scene and I wasn't THAT angry but I tried. I know you all were looking forward to Squall kicking ass and you all might be upset that he didn't get as messed up as you might have hoped but remember he's in Balamb for like TWO WEEKS!_

_The fight that you all just read was actually inspired by one my friend had with this random girl in town about three months ago and I went into help her (cause she was getting a hiding) and ended out smacking her. So credit goes to her._

_Best be off… so what'd ya think? _


	14. Chapter fourteen

**The Delinquent**

Not an owner of it.

_I'm really sick at the moment so forgive me if this isn't exactly Shakespeare._

Squall grabbed hold of a plain white towel as he stepped out of the shower, looking down at his stomach he grimaced at the bruises that covered his body. He shook his head and took a glance at himself in the mirror, glaring once again at the image that mocked him.

It was a testament to how useless he was on Friday night. How badly he was beaten and he was supposed to be the 'man'. Not only that, Rinoa had seen the whole thing.

'But I got a couple in.' Squall reminded himself, feeling his masculinity start to come back to him.

It was now Tuesday so his face wasn't quite the wreck that it had been; in fact he was healing surprisingly fast considering how bad it had been. Not that he'd be winning any beauty pageants any time soon.

Yesterday had been torture; the entire football team had absolutely died when they had seen him. Squall had to make a mental note to get them somehow.

He threw on a pair of boxers and a white t-shirt before making his way downstairs to have some breakfast. He always liked to wait until he'd eaten his breakfast before putting on his pants because he usually spilt whatever he was eating on them. This was due to the fact that he was usually running around the house while trying to eat it.

Raine had seen his face, she absolutely lost her mind. She even started crying. Squall had a hard time trying to calm her down but once he managed to she informed him that it was his own dumb fault and it would do him well to remember that he wasn't Superman.

"Put some pants on you caveman!" Squall heard Selphie yell at him as he exited the bathroom.

Squall flipped her off and didn't bother to ask her why she was in his house. He was actually really used to having someone random in his house when he got up. It was usually because he was late and normal it'd be Rinoa but Selphie being there didn't really shock him.

"Fuck up." Squall replied indifferently.

He sat down on a stool in the kitchen and began pouring himself some cocoa puffs, waiting for Selphie to come along and ask for some. She was a known cereal fanatic.

"Ow yummy! Can I have some?" Selphie squealed as she sat down beside him.

After a somewhat long breakfast session Squall finally decided it was about time he put his uniform on, another day in his personal Hades.

He stepped onto his porch, squinting his eyes against the bright morning light. Selphie followed behind him, retelling a story she heard about their home room teacher. Once inside the car Squall honked his horn and waited patiently for Rinoa to come out.

Soon she was out the door, wearing the school uniform that she had now personalized to suit her individuality.

The red and black tartan skirt now had a split going up the back that stopped just under her knees. She'd coloured a section of it completely black and she'd taken down the hem to make it longer. The sandals that she had previously worn had been thrown away for a pair of comfortable white shoes with blue strips going up the side.

Her blouse was undone all the way to her chest, revealing a black spaghetti strap t-shirt that she wore underneath. To top it all off she now too had various pieces of jewellery and Hyne save any teacher that tried to remove it.

She waved cheerfully and made her way towards the car, hauling her shoulder bag along with her as she went.

"C'mon Rin, we're ganna be late!" Selphie called out.

Rinoa gave her a stunned look as she sat down in the backseat.

"Since when have you cared? I'm surprised that we're going before first break." Rinoa stated.

Selphie didn't reply, instead she just remained silently watching the scenery go by as Squall started the car. This made Rinoa somewhat nervous; this meant that something was up.

"What's going on?" Rinoa enquired after a couple of minutes.

"Nothing," Selphie exclaimed a little too quickly.

"Sure, why can't you tell me?" Rinoa asked.

Once again this was met with silence, Rinoa would've jumped out of the car then but her curiosity was getting the better of her and she remained where she was. She didn't really want to jump out of a moving car anyway, it had to be painful.

Soon the school leered in front of them menacingly and Squall's speed went down drastically, he didn't really want to even go to school today but he had to. If he didn't turn up at least every so often they'd take his name of the roster.

Once the car was parked Selphie exited and ran straight in the double doors without as much as a word. Squall and Rinoa glanced at each other but didn't say anything, they would no doubt find out eventually.

"Maybe Irvine's brought her something." Rinoa muttered.

"Irvine needs to get a job first." Squall chuckled.

They opened the doors and walked inside the hell-hole otherwise known as School. Rinoa had a bit of a feeling that today was going to be eventful, Selphie had really made that clear so far.

The second bell went off as they got to Rinoa locker, she had to pick up her pad so that she had something to do in class, and they both grimaced. Both of them had the same homeroom teacher so they both knew what was awaiting them, one of the biggest assholes in Balamb who ran his classroom like a POW camp.

Squall smirked as he opened the door to the class and Rinoa grinned widely. She didn't exactly like had a forty something old man screaming at her but it was funny to watch. He had a bald spot on his head that would go red and it was just a good way to start the day.

"I see you two are late again." He seethed as they stepped inside.

Squall glanced over at Selphie's seat to see she wasn't there yet. He furrowed his eyebrows together and tried to think where she might be.

"And as per usual you haven't failed to point that out." Rinoa said optimistically.

'_I wonder what the fuck she's up to_.' Squall thought, his mind continuing to wander onto things other than the sweaty man in front of him.

"I shouldn't have to point it out every single day Miss Heartilly!"

'_I bet the others are in on it too…_'

"Well maybe the students should form a protest and fight against the inhuman starting time of the education system."

'_This better not be about Friday night…'_

"Maybe you should just set your alarm earlier!"

"Off it!" Squall burst out, finally joining the argument.

The teacher sighed, apparently not having his usual amount of fight. He walked over to his desk before grinning maliciously at the class.

Rinoa and Squall took it as a sign to take their seats, Squall still at the front of the class and Rinoa had been put on the other side of the room to Selphie at the back.

"We have a new seating arrangement today."

Rinoa supposed that it was supposed to have more of an affect on them but they were already as far away from their friends as possible it was just that now so was everyone else.

The morning dragged on unbelievably long, both Rinoa and Squall were too busy watching the clock so that they could get out of here and find out what the hell was going on. Needless to say that certainly contributed to the longevity of it.

"…which is why from now on no student shall be allowed to come within a meter perimeter of the trophy cabinet." The teacher droned on.

'_C'mon, c'mon! Why is this taking so long? Why did I even come to school today? I bet if I stayed home I'd still be in bed right now…' _Rinoa thought.

She had her elbow resting on her desk with her hand supporting her head up. Her eyes were half closed and she was making it no secret that she was bored. Not that the teacher bothered to look her way so it didn't really matter anyway.

She saw some preppy girls in front of her whispering to each other and giggling. Then one of them glanced over in her direction, obviously just discussing something about her.

"If you've got something to say bitch then just say it." Rinoa hissed at them a little louder than she'd meant to.

"Miss Heartilly, if could leave outburst like that out of the classroom from now on please."

Rinoa huffed and leaned back in her seat, still glowering at the two girls. When they started doing the exact same thing again it only angered Rinoa further.

"Do you have a fucking problem?" Rinoa exclaimed.

"That's IT Rinoa! I've had enough of you today! You're going straight to the principal office."

Rinoa groaned and grabbed her pad off the desk. She stuffed it in her bag as she stormed out of the classroom, slapping one of the girls pencil cases to the ground as she did so.

Rinoa slammed the door as she once she was out of the classroom; she leaned up against the wall beside the door and waited patiently.

Soon she heard yelling from inside and not long after Squall came out, wearing his usual smirk he always had set upon his face after upsetting someone.

"What was that all about?" Squall enquired as they walked towards the office.

"I dunno, they were talking about me and I just sorta lost it." Rinoa sighed.

"I know the feeling." Squall muttered.

Slowly but surely they soon found themselves outside the Principals office. Originally they weren't going to go to the office at all but both of them actually wanted to stay at school today so they had to.

Without as much as a seconds breath they walked inside the office. They acknowledged the office lady with the usual nod and took a seat beside a small glass coffee table.

This room was supposed to be somewhat intimidating, used as an extra measure to freak teenagers out before the big 'discussion' with the principal. It stopped being a threat after the principal and yourself were on a first name basis.

"Why were you so early this morning?" Rinoa asked, absent mindedly glancing at the clock to see how long they'd been waiting.

"I dunno, Selphie just sorta turned up. I didn't have time to watch any TV or anything." Squall huffed.

"I know, she came and got me out of bed before she went over to your house."

"How'd she get there anyway?"

Rinoa shrugged and took another lingering look at the clock. She really hated waiting in the office, she had to see all the 'would be' offenders come in and try to look staunch.

Soon the door to the principal's office opened and Seifer walked out, his usual arrogant smirk plastered to his face and his aura of self-importance illumining off him.

"What are you in for?" Squall enquired.

"I'm still in isolation; I can't go back to my homeroom for another two weeks." Seifer chuckled.

"I thought you got off that." Rinoa stated.

"I did but…"

"Miss Heartilly, the principal will see you now." The office lady interrupted.

Rinoa rolled her eyes and stood, making her way confidently towards the "torture chamber" as they had affectionately named it.

When she walked inside she saw the principal standing with his back turned to her, he was gazing out the window with a dazed look on his face, obviously worn out from Seifer's visit. Rinoa always liked to go to the principal after Seifer had been in there, he'd either be really angry or completely drained.

"Rinoa, please sit."

Rinoa took a seat on the comfortable crimson chair that sat before his desk. She dumped her bag on the floor and all her key chains on it made a loud "clunk" when they hit the ground.

"Hey, Mr Kramer," Rinoa said cheerfully.

"I have noticed lately that these visits are starting to become more and more regular Rinoa." Kramer stoped there, pausing for affect Rinoa supposed. "And I looked on your old school records and they clearly state that you were a model student before you came to Balamb."

Rinoa bit her bottom lip, she knew what was coming. Soon all the days off that she'd have would come out and all her detentions, this was going to be a long meeting.

"Now because of your fathers influential position in the community I was willing to overlook your little rebel but you continuously give me more and more reason not to."

Rinoa was now bored of this conversation; she'd heard it all from her father, about how she was slipping off the rails and becoming a loser. How all her friends were nothing but scum and they'd do nothing but pull her down and they wouldn't be there to help her up.

She stared idly out the window and soon her eyes drifted to the football field. The principal had a magnificent view of it and it usually brought some solace when things had gotten really dreary.

She saw something written on it in big white letters. She squinted her eyes and tried to make out what it said.

"**Cid Kramer wears granny panties"**

Rinoa covered her mouth with her hand and tried to hold back the laughter that was itching to come out.

"What are you doing?" Mr Kramer enquired angrily.

He turned around and instantly read the words. He gasped and in a second was out the door.

Rinoa burst out laughing and ran out the door after him, literally dying to tell Squall.

She grabbed his arm and hauled him into the room, still laughing as she pointed at the vandalism.

Not long after Zell entered the room. He looked at them both quizzically but seemed to be in too much of a hurry to make any inquires.

"Zell? What are you doing here?" Rinoa asked as she approached him.

He was crouched over Mr Kramer's desk fiddling with the loudspeaker microphone.

"Don't tell me you guys planned something without me." Squall whinged.

"Shut up!" Zell hissed.

He placed the microphone back where it had previously been and hastily waved goodbye before leaving as quickly as he had entered.

"What did that asshole do?" Squall said to himself as he advanced Mr Kramer's desk. Nothing seemed to be different and Zell hadn't taken anything, the only real change was that now there was a little red light going on it.

Then realization dawned upon Squall and he took a couple of steps back. This was all part of a 'master plan', it might not be a history bender but it was an intricate one.

That was why it was only Zell who came inside the office; the others were all probably off doing something else. He glanced out the window and smirked at the graffiti now brightly covering the football field, which would've been part of it as well. You needed something pretty spectacular to get Mr Kramer out of his office.

"We should leave." Squall muttered as he lightly grabbed Rinoa around the wrist.

They exited the room and Squall started walking back to class, curious as to what was going on. He thought that when Zell had entered the office and grabbed the loudspeaker he meant to say something comical into it but just turning it on wasn't something that Zell would just do on a whim.

The writing on the field was clearly Seifer and Irvine's work, but Seifer had been in the office this morning.

'_Unless they did it earlier…'_

Quistis was obviously to blame for the planning of it all… all that was left was Selphie's part in this, and what the end result was going to be.

Their little prank clearly hadn't ended yet.

"Where are we going?" Rinoa enquired after awhile.

"I don't know about you but I'm going back to class, I don't wanna miss a second of this."

They soon found that homeroom had ended, Squall now had to go to woodwork and Rinoa had Science. She hurried to class, hoping that Irvine was in class. He was in her Science class so the prospect of catching up on whatever was going on would more than likely happen now.

Thankfully and extraordinarily Irvine was in class. He was surprisingly quiet and well mannered. He claimed to have absolutely no idea what was going on and maintained that he'd been late for homeroom and hadn't talked to anyone.

Then he got a txt message. His tone clearly rang out around the classroom, some sixties song from a western movie. Irvine's obsession with all things cowboy was more than a little odd.

After that he became an absolute menace, teachers all around the world would shudder to think of how totally asshole Irvine went. It only took him five minutes to get sent out and he seemed very pleased with himself when that happened.

'_What the fuck is going on?' _

Then there was a sound resonating through the speakers of a door closing. There was some muttering heard and then the squeaking sound of a chair.

"**_Those little bastards think they can get to me."_**

Rinoa grinned and covered her mouth with her hand, it was clearly Mr Kramer's voice and she now understood what Zell was doing.

She looked around the room and saw the whole class staring at the speaker, even the teacher. Rinoa could just picture the same thing happening in all the classrooms.

"_**Cid, Irvine's been sent here again."**_

Rinoa opened her mouth wide like she just found out she'd eaten her pet dog. She listened intently, it was like watching a soap, you were just enthralled in the drama.

"_**Oh for fucks sake."**_

Her teacher then ran out of the room, obviously going for the principal's office to stop this. Rinoa prayed that she fell and broke her hip; this was too good to miss.

"_**I see you're back again Irvine. You and all your friends are really making your mark today."**_

"_**Sorry I aint got no idea what your talking 'bout."**_

"_**I bet you don't."**_

Even through the speaker Rinoa could hear the anger behind his face, she could almost see Mr Kramer. He'd be stressed out by the football field vandalism and now Irvine was going to make an asshole of him.

"_**I'm willing to put aside the fact that you have blatantly disrespected your teacher again if you give me the names of who did that to the field."**_

There was a moment's silence, Rinoa awaited with baited breath; it was times like this she wished she had some popcorn.

"_**Did what to the field?"**_

"_**Did what… THAT!"**_

Rinoa gasped, surprised at just how loudly that had come out through the loudspeaker. She had a futile attempt at holding back her laughter but it was nearly uncontrollable at this point.

"**_See that, 'Cid Kramer wears granny panties'. Can you imagine if the student body saw that! But you don't care… you and your friends don't care about the image of this school. Since you all started here our reputation had decreased so far that people are actually sending their children to boarding school rather than ours." _**

"_**Mr Kramer I don't think you should blame us for your failures." **_

At this point Rinoa felt as though she couldn't breath but as per usual when they did something without her she had a nagging feeling inside that she wished she'd been a part of it.

That was the thing about being 'the new girl' they often treated her like she wouldn't be up to some of their really horrific little missions. She understood though, even she noticed that when she was around everyone was very alert to her whereabouts and what she was doing.

At the start she had been more than grateful, but now she just wished they'd stop babying her.

"_**I am honestly at the end of my rope Irvine, I don't know if I can take much more of this anymore."**_

'_Oh great, Cid's having a breakdown…' _Rinoa thought.

"_**Well maybe, if you don't mind me suggesting, you should go on some sort of vacation or something."**_

**Elsewhere**

Squall was wide eyed and wide mouthed as he listened to the intangible principal full on lose it broadcasted across the entire school. Zell, who happened to be in his woodwork class, was nearly in tears.

"Please tell me you planned this too." Squall said excitedly.

Zell just shook his head as he collapsed to the ground, trying to breathe and clutching his stomach.

"_**Well seriously Irvine, I don't know what to do… My therapist actually told me the same thing you know."**_

"Squall please!" Zell gasped out from the ground. "Make it stop!"

On the loudspeaker there were sounds of the door being slammed open and banging against the wall and someone bursting through the door.

"_**Mr Kramer, NOOOOOO"**_

**Lunch Period**

"That was fucking perfect!" Seifer clapped as he took as seat at the lunch table.

Irvine grinned at the group; he'd been somewhat cocky since the morning's fiasco.

"That couldn't have gone better." Irvine said haughtily.

"So how did this one work?" Rinoa enquired.

The question had been nagging on her brain since it happened and the only class she had with anyone since then was Squall. Apparently Zell had been too badly in hysterics to tell him anything either.

"Quisty's idea," Selphie gushed.

"Alright. Seifer made a joke to me on Saturday night that it would be really funny if someone went into the principal's office and turned it on when he was going nuts at Seifer." Quistis began.

Rinoa made herself comfortable and started pulling out her food from her bag. She could tell this was going to be a long explanation.

"So we decided to do it. Logically we needed more help and Selphie, Zell and Irvine's expertise in particular things was handy. After a gruelling Sunday night planning we finally had something going. Selphie and Irvine were to…" Quistis looked around and began talking in a much quieter voice, she hadn't actually thought about other people listening who would dob her in.

"… write something offensive about the principal so that he'd naturally run out of his office. Once he'd done that Zell was to infiltrate and switch the microphone on. While this was happening I was keeping watch outside my homeroom which has a view of field, and I was to txt Zell when Cid was coming back."

"Ok, well what about the whole breakdown thing?" Rinoa interrupted, far more interested in just the facts rather than a long winded speech.

But that was what Quistis was like; she always explained things like she was some sort of lecturer or something.

"I'm getting to it!" Quistis exclaimed. "So anyway, Seifer was supposed to rile him up a bit this morning when he went in there for his isolation. He was also supposed to point out the field vandalism but ended out being kicked out of Cid's office before he got a chance."

"Luckily it was spotted by delinquent Rinoa and everything went smoothly. Irvine wasn't originally going to get sent to the principal but sometimes you've just got to improvise."

Rinoa looked shocked, that was actually quite intricate. It wasn't like she didn't know that Quistis was an absolute plan genius it was just that for a couple of day's work she feeling pulled that off well.

"But Cid having a meltdown like that was absolute magic." Squall complemented.

"Why though? You guys usually do these things for some sort of reason don't you?" Rinoa said questioningly.

Selphie smiled and gently touched Rinoa on the hand.

"We wanted to cheer you guys up, you were so down."

Rinoa grinned at her friends, absolutely humbled by the fact that they would do that for her. She'd never encountered such friendship.

"Thanks you guys, that's really nice." Rinoa replied blissfully.

"Don't go spreading terrible rumours like that!" Seifer cried.

_Whoa… eight pages… I got in a hell writing buzz. I did have a lot of time on my hand being sick and all. This chapter wasn't really as serious as all the others have been previously but I guess I just wanted them to get a little bit of a break. They are all teenagers and life isn't just drama drama drama._

_You got to see different sides to some of the characters in this chapter I think, especially Seifer for some reason… at least that's what I think… yourself? _


	15. Chapter fifteen

**The Delinquent**

I don't own ff8 or Rammstein. I dunno if you have to put that thing up if you only mention them but better safe than sorry.

Squall casually glanced towards the stop light that was preventing him from going home. His hand tapped against the steering wheel along with the intoxicating beat of the Rammstein that he was listening to.

Finally the light turned green and he was given clearance to at last start his trouble-free journey home. He'd been at Zell's listening to his mother lecture them both of the trouble that they were getting into. It was a pretty average one for ol' Ma Dincht, Squall was authorized to leave after only half an hour.

Once he got back on his boulevard he pulled over when he noticed Selphie and Rinoa walking down the street. They both had ice creams and still wore their school uniforms but without any shoes.

"What are you ladies doing?" Squall enquired.

Rinoa and Selphie walked towards the car, lapping up the quickly melting ice cream as they went.

"We decided that we needed an icy feast." Selphie proclaimed.

"Wanna ride?" Squall asked.

Rinoa nodded and dived in the front seat. Selphie jumped over her side and landed clumsily in the backseat.

"Did you have a good day?" Selphie enquired slyly.

Squall chuckled at that, of course he had. Not only had he saw the absolute defacement of the schools main symbol of impressiveness he'd heard his Principal have a breakdown.

"Yeah it was alright, nothing out of the ordinary, right?" Squall sniggered.

Selphie didn't answer but there was a proud smile upon her face.

**Two days later**

Squall grinned smugly as he walked towards Rinoa's house. Her plan of going for an entire week was going to be smothered in about two minutes. It was currently eight o clock in the morning and she would more than likely be still in bed.

They never really went to school until well after nine o clock, for an optimum school day you needed at least eight hours sleep and they were usually out and about late at night.

Squall opened the door and let himself in; he'd just watched Caraway pull out of the driveway and take off to work so he knew that that wasn't going to be a problem.

He silently crept up the stairs, he tried as hard as he could to stop the creak that always sung out when you pulled down Rinoa's stairs to her bedroom and was surprisingly successful.

He headed up then, noticing how brilliantly the sky light shone when it was the morning. Rinoa had been in his room tones of time but Squall hadn't really been at Rinoa's all that much. It seemed as though she didn't like having visitors but Squall understood, some people liked there privacy. He understood that but still didn't tie together the fact that sneaking into someone's room when they're asleep at eight in the morning might be an invasion of someone's property.

He chuckled quietly to himself when he noticed that Rinoa had a black mosquito net above her bed, he couldn't imagine her with anything like that.

He stood there for longer than he thought he would though, watching her body move up and down as she slept, silently staring at her hair spread out all around her pillow. Her lips were slightly parted and she was making something that seemed kind of like purring in her sleep. One hand lay beside her face, partially covering her face from Squall's view. She had a white t-shirt on that said "Daddies little killer" in bold black writing.

He couldn't see what was underneath that though, her duvet covered the rest of her body.

A slight breeze was blowing, making the scene all the more appetizing with the presence of the mosquitos net stirring faintly.

'_This looks like a chocolate commercial…' _Squall thought dazedly.

He was about to go and jump on her bed to wake her up but before he got a chance this hell-mutt wonder from the planet psycho came running at him. It barked viciously at him, baring its teeth and letting out the occasional growls.

"Oh shit…" Squall mumbled.

Rinoa was frightened out of her sleep and dived out of bed. She looked completely oblivious of anything going on and Squall noticed that she had grey and black chequered three quarter pyjama pants on underneath.

The dog barked and Rinoa was thrown back into reality.

"Angelo, no!" Rinoa commanded sternly.

To Squall's amazement, the once violent and fierce dogs he'd ever encountered… apart from the one at the junk yard… that was a scary dog… and that one on that old mans property… and Seifer's dog… REGARDLESS! This dog was definitely in the top fifteen, and it instantly backed off.

"That's a…" Squall squeaked out.

He coughed and took a deep breath, trying to get over the fact that this dog had nearly attached him and had been quite scary so that he could look at least half way tough in front of Rinoa.

"I know, he's so loyal." Rinoa yawned as she patted Angelo's head.

Rinoa yawned again, this time finding the energy to cover her mouth. She glanced at Squall for a second before trudging back to bed and covering herself with her duvet.

"Why are you here anyway?" Rinoa enquired.

Squall sat down on her bed and shrugged, trying to act casual while keeping one eye on that dog.

"We uhhh, we have plans." Squall stuttered.

"And just what are 'our' plans?" Rinoa sniggered.

"I and my five musketeers are taking you out on a day of stress release." Squall proclaimed.

"I thought there were three musketeers." Rinoa said flatly.

"Well now you know that you thought wrong." Squall said sarcastically.

Rinoa rolled her eyes and covered her head with her pillow. It was a pleasure to see Squall and all but when it was eight in the morning, she looked like shit and he was trying to make conversation, it she really couldn't be bothered.

"C'mon Rin." Squall whined.

He got out of bed this early in the morning she could at least make an effort.

Rinoa tore away her pillow and looked up to glare at Squall but one look in his pleading azure eyes and how could she say no?

"Fine, get out of my room so I can get changed." Rinoa submitted.

"Please don't take all fucking day." Squall said tediously.

**Thirty five minutes later**

Squall had made himself comfortable on the couch and was absent mindedly flicking through the channels on TV. As per usual at that time in the morning it mainly consisted of Hyne worship and preschoolers shows.

Rinoa floated down the stairs, looking every bit as beautiful as she had the day Squall had first seen her. In a non conventual way of course, it had been the perfect introduction. Squall started to wonder if that was why he was so fascinated with her.

She'd absolutely screamed her head off when he'd saw her, clutching at her chest and gasping for air after she'd finished. It had startled him somewhat but he didn't let that on. He'd been quite the gentleman as well, even apologising for startling her. Oh how things had changed now.

"About fucking time, Princess." Squall snapped.

"Oh shut your face." Rinoa moaned.

She couldn't help but glance at herself quickly as she walked past a mirror, rapidly inspecting every aspect of her chosen choice in clothes.

She had a black pair of tight fitting jean bootlegs with a pair of black stiletto heeled boots. Stiletto heels were something that Rinoa had adopted off Quistis, it was just that Rinoa had stubby legs and they made them look longer.

Accompanying this she had a pink plaid halter neck top with black stitching and a silver zip going up the back.

Squall had to admit that this new look bet the shit out of her old 'faded jeans and t-shirt' combo that she'd lived in when he'd first met her.

"Ready to go then?" Squall enquired.

Rinoa nodded, actually quite looking forward to going out today. She had originally planned to go all week and prove it to herself, but the prospect of doing something much more interesting was much more enticing.

She got to the end of the stairs and Squall looked down at her feet, he shook his head and pointed straight back up to her room.

"Sorry Princess but you gotta change; your clothing is not suitable for the task you are going to partake in today." Squall lectured.

"Well then what do you suggest I wear then?" Rinoa burst.

First he complains that she's taking too long then he decides that she has to do it all again, this was getting ridiculous.

"I don't know maybe something a little beachier."

Rinoa grimaced and stormed back up the stairs. She couldn't help but smile when she got back into her bedroom though. She'd never had any relationships with people quite as bizarre as the friendships she now obtained. Just when you'd think they were fighting heatedly they'd smile and laugh, they didn't take offence to anything.

She walked swiftly towards her closet, not wishing to take quite as long as she had. She didn't really have any beachy clothes but she imagined that she could piece something together.

She ripped through all her clothes that were hanging up, only briefly stopping to double check some items a couple of times. She momentarily glanced at a purple and black sarong that hung folded on a coat hanger. She grabbed it and biffed it scrappily on her bed, this was soon followed by a pair of three quarter jeans and some blue flip flops.

Next she ran to her underwear draw and chaotically searched through there for some signs of a bikini or something. Soon she found one of her old ones. A blue pair of boy cut shorts and a sort of halter neck blue swim top thing that only really showed part of her stomach.

She stared at it for a couple of seconds before throwing it back in her draw, had this been Deling, she would've been angry that it was so last season. Here she was more worried that she'd look out of place in front of Squall and all the rest of them. She knew they wouldn't judge her and even quite possibly that Selphie was wearing less but she didn't want to show them any more of what she used to be. She was a new person now and didn't want to remember what she was.

She instead grabbed a pair of dark blue board shorts and a white sleeveless t-shirt that said "One hundred percent bitch" in bold black letters. She quickly grabbed her shoulder bag and dumped all her school books out of it onto the floor, she stuffed her board shorts in there and stared at her chosen outfit for a couple of seconds before putting it all together.

**Twenty two minutes later**

Rinoa stepped down the stairs once again, this time not earning Squall's attention as something interesting was on TV. She'd wrapped the sarong around her body to make some sort of toga but better and not as crusty looking; under this she had her jeans and her black t-shirt.

It wasn't as grunge as her last outfit but she liked to think it still gave her a sense of her own individuality. She'd tied her hair up in a scruffy bun at the back of her head with her bangs hanging down over one of her eyes with a pair of sunglasses perched upon her head.

"C'mon." Rinoa said when she entered the lounge.

Squall glanced over the couch he was sitting on and gave her an inspection. He loved that whole casual look on her, it was so fitting.

"That's better." Squall proclaimed.

Rinoa rolled her eyes, used to Squall's stamp of approval on all her clothing. He did this every time they went somewhere. _Oh Rinoa that's not suitable… we're breaking into a house Rinoa, think about it…_

It was actually really annoying, she wasn't used to having to have someone's consent on what to wear… actually no that's a lie, whoever her friends were they had a dress code.

**The parking lot that the group were 'oh so' famous for meeting up in**

Seifer paced impatiently beside Irvine's Ute. He and the others had been waiting for about half an hour now and he was getting more than a little agitated.

He looked down at his watch, glaring down at it viciously when he saw that another five minutes had gone by since the last time he'd looked at it. The others didn't really seem as fazed about it as he was but that was normal, he was always a little tenser.

He heard the familiar sound of Squall's car screeching around the corner and leaned up against the car.

"Finally." He breathed out.

Quistis glanced at him out of the corner of her eye, not wanted to voice anything but still giving him a look. He smirked at her but no words were spoken and nobody really noticed the little exchange.

Squall's car appeared round the corner, going sideways around it. You could already see the excited grin on Squall's face, one that he shared with Rinoa.

"I don't see why those two don't just fuck and get it over with." Irvine said offhandedly.

Selphie elbowed him in the stomach but nobody disagreed, they were really a match made in heaven. Rinoa complemented Squall and Squall did so in return… no to mention that it would be tremendously adorable.

"Yeah… that would be super cute." Selphie replied as Squall and Rinoa stepped out of the car.

"What would be?" Rinoa enquired as she walked towards them.

"Nothing special." Selphie said casually.

"Super cute? Isn't that a little perky prep for you?" Squall stated flatly.

"Face it Squall, Selphie is a prep stuck in a rebel's body." Zell laughed.

"As true as your statement may be, we didn't come here to pick on Selphie." Quistis interrupted.

Rinoa then noticed the alarming amount of board shorts floating around. At least all the boys had a pair on, bar Irvine but he always liked to stand out.

Squall had a pair of grey boardies on and a white wife-beater. Much like herself he had a pair of sunglasses perched upon his head and black sandals on his feet.

Seifer had basically the same thing, except the wife-beater was a blue t-shirt, the sandals were grey shoes and the boardies were black.

Zell had a red cap upon his head and red board shorts, that seemed to be his resounding theme for today. His shirt was black and wore sandals much like Squall's.

Irvine was in jeans and a black wife-beater. He still had his cowboy hat, something that Rinoa had been meaning to ask him about but had never got around to it; she imagined that it had something to do with his OBSESSION with cowboys.

Quistis, as per usual, looked nothing short of angelic. She had a pair of see-through white pants on with white boy-cut short shorts on underneath. She had a white bikini covered with black zip up tight fitting jacket. She had no shoes on and small pink tinged sunglasses.

Selphie seemed to be wearing clothes that didn't seem to fit. She had a denim micro-mini on with a gypsy hippie looking white see-through top that was a little baggy on her. Underneath it you could see her bright yellow bikini.

"We came here to take Rinoa out on a day of relaxation." Quistis finished.

"No you came here to take Rinoa on a day of relaxation. I came here to wag school." Seifer scoffed.

Quistis glared at him and he glared back, there was an unspoken war going on between them that no one really wanted to split apart. Zell coughed to try and make his and everyone else's presence known but it appeared that they were blatantly ignoring him.

Finally Quistis looked away and Seifer wore a satisfied smirk plastered upon his face, it remained there for the next twenty minutes as well.

"You know he aint getting five-eights-of-fuck-all tonight." Irvine muttered in Selphie's ear earning him a giggle.

"Can we go?" Squall burst out.

"Hold up, seeing as this is my day and all I wanna stop somewhere and get something to eat. I'm starving." Rinoa cut in.

They soon found themselves outside a café that had a breakfast deal going on. They only went to places that had the deals; café's were just too expensive these days.

Rinoa cringed when she exited Squall's car, obviously a little nervous about something.

"What?" Squall asked, he being the only one that really noticed.

"Let's go somewhere else." Rinoa pleaded.

"Why…?" Squall trailed off as he looked ahead of himself.

He soon noticed what the matter was. There, sitting no less than four meters away was Lucas. He sat outside the café with Marcia, laughing and eating like it was nothing. If anything bothered Squall it was him laughing like he'd done nothing, like he wasn't at fault at all.

Squall began to grind his teeth and his fists immediately clenched together.

"Squall, please leave it." Rinoa begged. "Promise me you won't go over there."

But Squall didn't need to; soon Lucas had stood and appeared to be heading towards his car. He brushed past Squall as he walked, Squall trying a little too hard not to smack him in the face.

He'd only seen him for five seconds and he already wanted to inflict more bodily harm him than any other person he'd ever encountered. He just needed reason…

'_I've got heaps…'_Squall thought as he turned and sucker punched him in the back of the head.

Lucas instantly fell to the ground. He had to be expecting something, right?

Squall leaned down and grabbed him by the collar; he'd turned over by now you see.

"I'm ganna break you're fucking face." Squall snarled.

"Squall! You promised!" Rinoa yelled.

"I promised nothing!" Squall spat out.

Squall heard a car door slam and the sound of bare feet running over against the concrete.

"Squall, this isn't the way to fight this." Quistis informed him in all her infinite wisdom.

She lightly touched Squall on the shoulder, knowing that he wouldn't intentionally hurt a single hair on her head. Squall felt the calming affect that she always had on him, she was one of the first friends he'd ever had and he treated her like a sister.

It was the same as Ellone, if she'd come along and said the same thing he would've instantly dropped Lucas.

Lucas fell to the ground and Squall took a couple of seconds to collect himself. He took a deep breath, inhaling and exhaling like it was the last breath he'd ever take.

He closed his eyes, wishing immediately that he hadn't. The first thing that came to his mind was snapping at Rinoa, he regretted it instantly.

'_But I'm doing this for her… aren't I? But she doesn't want this…' _

He felt Rinoa gently touch his forearm and he looked down to see her smiling at him softly. And against all his better intentions, he walked away. It was the first and quite possibly the last time he'd ever walked away from a fight of any kind. He didn't know why either.

"Yeah fuck off ya dickhead." Lucas shouted after him.

Squall's eyes widened and he tried to turn and face Lucas again but this time Zell was holding him back. Zell practically had to drag Squall inside the café, Squall kicking and screaming the whole way.

"I'm ganna get you Lucas… You just fucking wait!"

_Random, I dunno why Lucas was in this chapter, I was ganna save him for later but the last chapter was about nothing and so was most of this one so I figured something had to happen. This chapter was all about clothes so the next one HAS to be something special._

_For all concerned, yes Lucas is going to get his own back but I've actually got no idea how to do it and I need something really inventive. This needs to be by far Squall and co.'s best work so if you have any ideas at all I'd really like to hear them. _

_Another thing that I really wanna hear… what you thought. _


	16. Chapter sixteen

**The Delinquent**

I am not the owner of final fantasy 8.

It didn't take Squall long to get over his little spat with Lucas, in fact he seemed almost in exactly the same temperament as he was before he'd seen him. Rinoa thought that it was cool that he could control his emotions like that, unlike her who would still be out there hurling abuse at him had he been a she.

It was actually then, as Rinoa stared at the waitress approaching them with armfuls of plates, she noticed Seifer's absence. He'd been there when they'd first met up and Rinoa was somewhat curious as to what he was up to. It couldn't be good… Rinoa had learnt that from experience…

**Flashback**

Rinoa grinned as she saw Seifer's car pull up her driveway, he'd told her that he'd be picking her up at 6:30 PM. Basically the only reason he was, was because nobody else could.

Squall was originally going to but he got a double whammy after school detention for disrupting the school during assembly. Selphie couldn't because she had to take her cat to the doctor after school because it was spewing something chronic.

Irvine couldn't because he went to rifle shooting on a Wednesday night. Quistis had to help her father work on a case (he being a Lawyer) and Zell had work at one of his jobs.

He tooted his horn impatiently, drumming his fingers against the steering wheel anxiously. Seifer looked down at his watch and honked once again, not having much patience for Rinoa's slothfulness.

Finally Rinoa exited the house, the usual skip to her walk that was always present. It was something that she shared with Selphie, a little prance at the end of every step. Seifer noticed it the first time he'd seen her but hadn't really said anything. He had a reputation for lack of concern for such things like the way people walked but when you watched people you noticed certain things.

Rinoa opened the door and sat down in the front passenger seat, smiling warmly at Seifer as she did so. Seifer's arrogant behaviour had been easy to get used to and Rinoa now saw the real person that he was. He was caring and passionate about most things and did everything one hundred and ten percent.

"I've just gotta make a quick stop." Seifer announced once he started the car.

He stepped on the gas and fanged it down the street, his music blaring so loud that Rinoa thought her eardrums were going to pop at points.

Rinoa soon noticed all the houses getting shabbier and shabbier and before she knew it she was in the slums. Drug dealers and prostitutes roamed the streets freely here, away from the law and most of the rules.

Not too many police would dare come to this part of town, people didn't really have too much respect for law enforcement here and should anything happen to a police officer the culprit probably wouldn't be found.

Rinoa knew that Seifer lived around here and figured he just forgot something on the way to her house. But instead of stopping at his house he stopped outside another. There was a teenager boy outside of it, one that Rinoa didn't recognise from school. He sat on the steps chewing on his fingernails uneasily and Rinoa could tell just by looking at him that he was clearly hooked on something that he didn't have, you could tell, it wasn't half obvious.

Seifer shoved his hand inside his hoodie pocket pulling out a clear bag with white powder inside it. He looked down at it and back up at Rinoa and Rinoa knew what he was trying to tell her, he didn't need to say anything. This was one of those don't-tell-anybody moments.

He poured some of the contents into a smaller clear bag with a black spider's web stuck on it.

"Can you look after this for a second?" Seifer enquired seriously.

He handed her the larger back with the powder and she took it hesitantly. She'd never really had anything to do with drugs. Ok so she'd smoked the occasional joint at a party but who hasn't?

She knew that Seifer wasn't into drugs either, he was always commenting on useless druggies and things of that nature so it was particularly puzzling to find him having anything to do with them.

"Seifer, whats going on?" Rinoa asked earnestly.

Seifer didn't answer; he just got out of the car and walked towards the restless looking boy.

**End flashback**

There was no doubt in Rinoa's mind that Seifer had a broken past, one that she was slowly starting to find the pieces of. Occasionally there were little comments passed around that gave some of it away.

Thinking about it though Rinoa soon realised that she didn't really know much about anyone's past and they never really asked her about hers. Even when Lucas had turned up nothing was asked, the only interest anyone had really taken was whether she had a boyfriend.

Rinoa wished she could turn back the clock on that moment and say that she didn't, she was so ashamed of him now. She couldn't believe that she was seeing him in such a new light, she openly admitted that she was a little closed off from him from the start though. It was her fault as much as it was his.

"Where's Seifer?" Rinoa enquired as she sliced into her pancakes.

"He had to pick up his car; he said that he wanted to rally the back roads." Quistis replied, elegantly taking a bite of her hash-brown afterwards.

Rinoa nodded, she couldn't accuse him of anything that she didn't know happened. Not that she would accuse him of anything anyway.

She felt Squall shift beside her and saw the uneasy look on his face, she knew what he was thinking, she knew what everyone was thinking. There was nothing anyone could say; Seifer wouldn't take nicely to everyone trying to lecture him.

She heard the familiar sound of Seifer car pulling up; it was by far the shabbiest car out of the lot. There were dents all over it and Rinoa didn't want to go into how old it would be. It screeched loudly as he came to a halt and it made her wince, she hated that sound.

Once everyone had finally finished all there food they made there way to the beach, Rinoa riding in Squall's car, as per usual.

Once there Rinoa Selphie and Quistis headed straight for the tree's surrounding to get changed. The last thing they need was the prying eyes of there male friends poking around as they removed clothing. That was just asking for trouble.

Once this was over they once again made there way towards the beach, casually setting up towels and any other things that they felt they might need.

The boys were all still mulling around the cars but this was normal, Rinoa had been to the beach with them a fair few times now and that's just what they did.

"Hyne, you'd think they have more to do." Quistis sighed as she sat down on her towel.

Rinoa glanced over at her and felt a little bit of jealousy rise up inside her. Quistis looked breathtaking fully dressed and now in a bikini she looked ever better than most bath suit models.

"Who cares about those jerks?" Selphie exclaimed.

Rinoa nodded, not really wanting to discuss them much more either. She hated when the subject of the boys came up, that usually led to questions about her and Squall, questions that in all honesty she had no idea how to answer.

"I thought that Squall relaxed pretty easily this morning." Selphie continued.

'_Didn't you just say you didn't want to talk about them…?' _Rinoa thought to herself.

Before anything else could be said Irvine flopped down beside her, he was usually the first to come over, followed by Seifer typically.

As if on que along he came, prowling around eyeing Irvine up dangerously. Seifer was fiercely protective.

**An hour later**

Rinoa exited the water, she was starting to get cold and you can only get dunked under by Zell so many times before it becomes annoying.

"C'mon Rin, you know I'm only joking." Zell called after her.

"Leave me alone you Neanderthal!" Rinoa yelled.

She heard a loud splash behind her and saw Zell be dragged under the water by Selphie.

She headed towards her towel, grimacing when she noticed another body lying on it.

"Squall get off my towel." Rinoa growled.

He didn't even acknowledge her presence. Instead turning the page nonchalantly in the book he was reading.

"Fine." Rinoa sighed.

She sat dejectedly on the towel beside it, trying to look as pathetic as she could.

He glanced over at her, settling his eyes on her face for longer than he had meant to, he was about to say something, something sarcastic and no doubt offensive but something else caught his eye.

Apparently Rinoa saw it too and she shifted her eyesight straight on Squall. But he wasn't staring at her anymore; he was far too wrapped up in something else.

There, walking along the beach no less than three meters away was a girl who looked out there age. She had deep black shoulder length hair with purple bangs framing her face. Her eyes were a dark blue that seemed to have some sort of glittery affect.

Her small frame had a blue bikini top on with a white see-through fishnet spaghetti strap top on. Accompanying this she had a pair of white baggy pants with a chunky black belt hanging lop sided on her hips.

Rinoa glanced from Squall back to her and back to Squall again. There was no point denying that she was beautiful, there was a sultry attraction there that Rinoa could see a mile away.

"Excuse me!" Irvine called out, running out of the water quickly.

Selphie narrowed her eyes and glared menacingly at the girl, she obviously wasn't going to welcome this new girl like they did Rinoa.

"Irvine Kinneas, I don't believe we've met." He continued, sticking his hand out and grabbing her hand lightly.

"Tracey Starks." She said seductively.

'_Tracey…' _Rinoa's mind growled.

She could tell that she didn't like her already; there was a home wrecker quality about her that Rinoa already saw.

"Wow…" Squall breathed.

Rinoa's head snapped sharply to her side. She shook her head and denied ever hearing it, thinking that it must've been her imagination.

Squall stared at her body with a wide eyed expression. She was perfection, his own version of perfection. He couldn't take his eyes away from her; she was drawing him in like a fish caught on a hook. He could almost hear the angel chorus chiming behind her faultless figure.

He noticed Rinoa stand and storm off towards who knows where and usually he would've followed her but he didn't want to miss a second of her presence. She could be gone by the time he got back and Rinoa would be around forever.

'_I should go…' _

He let out a moan and jogged after Rinoa's rapidly diminishing form. Once finally in an arms reach of her he spun her around and gave her the most concerned look he could rap up in such a short amount of time.

"Whats wrong?" Squall enquired.

"Whats wrong? Whats wrong! Could you ogle at that girl anymore?" Rinoa exclaimed.

"Whoa whoa whoa!" Squall interrupted. "What is wrong with me staring at some chick?"

"Nothing!" Rinoa yelled. "You can do whatever you want; I'm not the boss of you."

Squall bit his bottom lip in an attempt to stop the words from pouring out; he had an acid tongue and didn't want to unleash it on Rinoa… well not like that anyway.

"Did you see me bitching and moaning when your bitch came to town?"

"I'm not bitching or moaning Squall! I just think that a man such as you should have a little more class than to openly eyeball some chick!"

"That's not whats bothering you." Squall stated. "Whats bothering you is the fact that I'm not going to sit around and pretend that I'm taken by some girl that won't even get over her pig-shit boyfriend!"

"Fuck off!" Rinoa screamed.

"Uhhh, am I interrupting?" Zell asked hesitantly from behind them.

He'd been drawn over when he heard the commotion, everyone had heard the commotion.

"Yes as a matter of fact you are!" Squall snarled.

"Don't take it out on him!" Rinoa countered.

Zell took that as his que to leave; he didn't really want to feel the wrath of both Rinoa and Squall.

"Whats going on?" Selphie asked.

"_**Well if we're ganna start being honest!"**_

"Nothing, just an argument." Zell said casually.

"**_And what the fuck is that supposed to mean!" _**Squall's voice rang clearly out through the trees.

"Ow!" Selphie squealed excitedly, "a lovers quarrel!"

"**_You couldn't give a flying fuck about me or my feelings so just stop pretending and FUCK OFF!" _**Rinoa yelled scaringly loud.

"_**Don't care about your feelings? From the first day you got here I have done nothing but think about you, if you're that blind that you can't see how sickeningly strong I care about you then I don't know why I've bothered!"**_

Seifer, Quistis, Irvine, Selphie and Zell all looked at each other with shocked looks on there faces. It looked as though a behemoth had just come along riding a unicycle.

"Was that Squall?"

"Did he just say what I think he said?"

"Oh my Hyne! Oh my Hyne! Oh. My. Hyne!"

"We must've misheard or something, he can't have said that!"

"What a woman!"

_I dunno about the end of this chapter, it was pretty random. Originally I was going to have Rinoa involved in a car accident but nah off it; this is supposed to be a romance after all. _

_Credit goes to my reviewers and readers._

_Any thoughts or ideas or complaints, please click the link below…_


	17. Chapter seventeen

**The Delinquent**

I only own the words written, not the character's or places.

Rinoa stood in stunned silence, the only sound managing to get past her barricade of shock was the roaring sound of it. She had never noticed quiet to be quite so loud; it seemed somewhat contradictory to what was normal.

She stared at Squall for what felt like the longest time. He was now staring at the ground with no intention of raising his head for anything. His eyes had widened and his mouth was slightly ajar and he did not want Rinoa seeing him like this.

The words had just slipped out of his mouth before he had time to catch them. The whole time he was worried about the more acidic side of his tongue coming out. The side that came out more often than anything else, instead out came a side of him that he hadn't really been too worried about.

How often when you're in a heated argument do your true feelings come out? Usually it's riddled with harsh words and spiteful insults that you regret afterwards. Not that Squall did regret saying the words as soon as they had come out.

Rinoa opened her mouth to say something but quickly closed it again, deciding that it probably wasn't smart to say anything.

Squall glanced to his side, praying to Hyne that nobody had heard that, praying that he could turn back time and just erase this entire thing.

"Squall…" Rinoa whispered, finally gaining the courage to say something.

**----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

"I wonder whats going on?" Selphie said as she continued pacing fretfully.

"I bet Squall's getting' it on!" Irvine piped up.

Quistis shook her head and rolled her eyes, not surprised that a statement like that would come from Irvine, in fact she would've been surprised if he hadn't said anything of the sort.

"I highly doubt it, Irvine. I bet Squalls' so mortified that he hasn't even looked Rin in the eye since." Quistis replied.

"Ah ha, but what if Rinoa pounced on him once he'd said it." Seifer countered.

"Nah, I reckon he's already run all the way back to Balamb." Zell interrupted.

Everyone thought that could actually be quite possible, apart from the occasional opinion that Rinoa had become some sort of wild cat and just jumped him; everyone was in agreement of Squall's position, or disposition, after his little outburst.

"So, like, what the hell are we supposed to do now?" Selphie burst out.

Zell shrugged his shoulders and took a couple of steps forwards, shielding his eyes from the sun with his hand.

"Wait I spose, there's not really much to do."

"Don't worry about those two Selph; they'll sort there shit out. I say we just enjoy the rest of the time here as planned and wait for them to fuck or whatever's going on." Irvine added.

**------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

"I-I uhhh…."

"Stop," Squall interjected, "you don't have to say anything."

He raised his head slowly, finally plucking up enough nerve to look at her again. He couldn't believe it, he'd just poured his heart out to her, he hadn't said that he loved her or anything dramatic like that but he couldn't honestly say that he did. He didn't know what love felt like so how was he supposed to know if he was in it.

Saying that he cared about her was enough, saying that he thought about her every day was enough. He couldn't take any of it back either, how could he lie to her face now?

'_Fuck I couldn't before, now it'll be worse…' _

"I better go." Squall settled.

Rinoa shook her head, not wanting him to go at all. She wanted him to stay, in fact she wanted to pour her heart out as passionately as she would for anything that she felt strongly about, but she couldn't. The words seemed easy enough but to someone like Squall it was hard to be so emotional.

Squall had such a cool exterior, this façade of a person he put up to the world that made him seem invincible but Rinoa had just witnessed a part of him that seemed more fragile.

"You're not running away from this Squall." Rinoa said firmly.

"I'm not running, Rin." Squall said quietly.

"I won't act as if that this didn't happen." Rinoa stated resolutely.

Squall closed his eyes and rubbed them with his hand; a habit that he had taken up when he felt slightly stressed or was in deep thought. They weren't arguing anymore but oh Hyne how he was yearning to go back to that.

"Rinoa," Squall sighed, "don't pretend that this is the first you knew about the way I feel. You knew I cared about you. Ever since the first night you ever came out with us, you knew… You may be able to imagine that it was all phoney and this is news but its not. I won't act as if this is a big deal."

Rinoa didn't say anything; instead she just stood there in an astounded haze. She didn't really know how to reply to that. Of course she'd known he cared about her, she cared about him too but there was more than that. It was the way he had said it more than what he had said.

Before Rinoa could stop him again he turned and left, leaving Rinoa standing alone, still taken aback.

She expected to hear the sound of Squall's car pulling away, that's what she'd do in the same position but nothing came. She resigned herself to the fact that he wasn't going to leave any time soon and slowly made her way back to the beach.

When she got there she was relieved to see that mostly everyone else had gone somewhere else. The only people still floating around was Squall and Irvine.

She could see Zell and Selphie splashing around playfully in the water while Quistis and Seifer seemed to have disappeared from sight. Rinoa sighed and rolled her eyes, knowing exactly what they were up to; those two had endurance that could shame anyone.

Unfortunately as soon as Irvine spotted Rinoa he darted off somewhere else, not making it half obvious at all.

"Squall, I know there was more to it than that." Rinoa stated.

She wasn't going to talk to him at first, in fact she was going to straight out ignore him and go play with Selphie and Zell but this had to be dealt with and no time like the present.

"What do you know?" Squall scoffed as he idly turned the page in the book that he had retrieved once again.

"I know your going to talk to me and I know that your ganna have to answer to Quistis and Selphie so you might as well just answer to me."

Although outwardly he didn't show it, he did admit that she was right. Not that he planned on answering to anyone but either way it went he was going to be explaining to whichever one was more persistent.

He couldn't stand Selphie whining and Quistis's explanations on why it was futile to try and hold it back usually got to him after awhile. He also knew that Rinoa had a bad habit of just going into great detail about how the world will end if he doesn't do what she wants.

"And then all that shit your going to get from the boys meanwhile** I **have to put up with the girls' girlish giggles and taunts. You have to talk to me Squall, please; I don't think I'll be able to manage it all without something to explain to them. What am I supposed to say? This is awful…"

"Just shut up will ya!" Squall interrupted.

Rinoa suppressed her grin and put on her best depressing look, which she had down packed, with her big panda bear eyes it was hard to resist just giving in.

"I don't know why I said it." Squall sighed.

He picked up a tiny stone from the sand and threw it aimlessly out into the ocean, doing anything to take hims mind off all this emotion business.

"Just forget about it."

"Ok fine. But don't say I didn't try." Rinoa concluded.

"I won't." Squall replied mockingly.

**Two hours later**

Only Rinoa, Selphie and Quistis now inhabited the beach, the boys having gone off to 'rally drive'. They'd been gone for about fifteen minutes and Rinoa was just waiting for questions to come out. So far they had been pretty reserved about the whole thing, dismissing it and acting as if it didn't happen. But as Rinoa knew would happen soon the questions came out.

"So what happened?" Selphie enquired excitedly.

"What?" Rinoa replied, knowing full well what Selphie was talking about.

"We heard your little spat with Squall." Quistis stated.

Rinoa rolled over onto her stomach, trying to waste a little bit of time before answering.

"You did…"

"C'mon Rin, don't be so nonchalant about it." Quistis burst out.

Rinoa sighed and tried to make herself seem as small as possible, it was all very exciting for Squall to be admitting his true feelings and everything but she had hoped that this would've happened in a little more privacy.

"Well you heard everything, there's not really much to tell." Rinoa said.

"I can't believe that he said that. I can't believe that he bared his soul like that." Selphie sighed.

"C'mon guys he didn't exactly confess his love or anything." Rinoa exclaimed.

"He might've well have, you don't know him like we do, Squall saying that means more than any love confession. He's usually pretty aloof about these sorts of matters." Quistis explained in all her wisdom.

"You guys are fully taking this too far…" Rinoa trailed off as her thoughts were turned to more exciting matters.

Around the corning, skidding to a tyre burning halt was Seifer and Irvine. Seifer was driving of course; he didn't really trust anyone else's driving. Closely following them from behind was Squall and Zell, Zell driving this vehicle.

Zell ripped on the hand break as he spun the steering wheel around ninety degrees. The desired effect was for the car to spin while breaking making a sort of half donut and it was successfully achieved.

"C'mon girls, you gotta check this shit out!" Irvine yelled from the vehicle he was residing in.

Selphie jumped up excitedly and headed straight for Irvine and Seifer, Rinoa following suit, not wanting to be too near Squall in this uncomfortable time. Quistis dusted herself off and went towards Zell and Squall, Seifer was a bit too loose for her.

As soon as the car doors had slammed Seifer took off, leaving Squall, Zell and Quistis in a cloud of dust.

Rinoa clutched onto Selphie's arm, suddenly wishing she'd chosen the other car. Seifer was indeed a mental driver. She hadn't bothered to put her seatbelt on, the only reason one would wear ones seatbelt was if the police were about and would fine you for it.

Seifer was following a narrow dirt road with ditches on both sides, he was sliding side to side like a maniac and it was starting to make Rinoa more than a little nervous.

They passed a row of trees and behind it was a large grass field that they would need to go down the ditch to get to. Rinoa widened her eyes as she clicked onto what was going to happen.

"Oh shit!" Irvine exclaimed, tightly griping his dashboard.

Without slowing down at all Seifer swerved off the track and straight down the ditch. They bounced a little at the bottom and it slid for a bit but Rinoa thanked Hyne for keeping them safe on that one.

"Booyaka!" Selphie squealed excitedly while they were doing a backwards donut.

Rinoa turned in her seat to see where Squall and the others were. They were already down the ditch, swerving side to side in the wet grass.

She was jolted to the side as Seifer ripped the handbrake on for a side skid and then took off on a burnout.

'_I should have my seatbelt on…' _Rinoa thought to herself.

She grasped at it, pulling it down violently only for it to lock into place. She yanked at it again and again, slowly and gently then she got annoyed and it got more aggressive.

She looked up just in time to see the car slam into a bank. Rinoa smacked her forehead into the seat in front of her. She yelled out in pain but didn't have time to nurse her injury as the car started to roll.

She tried to crawl along with the spin but couldn't do anything. The rest was a bit of a haze but she seemed to come to and find herself lying flat on the roof of the car with muddy water soaking her.

She immediately took flight out of the car, moving as fast as she could. She'd seen way too many action movies to stay in that vehicle.

She then remembered the others were still inside and crawled back inside. Selphie was just coming out of her daze and was looking down at the blood on her hand. She had a cut lip but nothing too serious, they'd been lucky that it wasn't a serious crash.

It appeared Irvine had his seatbelt on as he was hanging upside down, frantically trying to tear the seatbelt off. Seifer pulled out a pocket knife and cut through the material. Irvine fell to the ground on his neck.

"Selphie!" Irvine called out worriedly.

"I'm alright." Selphie panted.

She inched out of the wreck, grabbing Irvine in a bone shattering hug once she was out.

Rinoa was just edging out when Squall and the others pulled up.

Squall raced out of the car, going straight to her side. He hauled her gently up, inspecting her body for any damage.

"Are you ok?" Squall asked anxiously.

Rinoa nodded, not wanting to talk at all. It was the first time she'd really been in a car accident of any kind and shock had over taken her.

Her bottom lip started to quiver and her eyes began to well up. Squall pulled her tenderly into himself, wrapping his arms around her trembling body.

"It's alright." Squall said softly.

She felt the soothing affect that his kind words always had on her, whenever he said it was alright she believed his words. She couldn't stop herself from trusting him.

"So much for your special day." Squall said absent mindedly.

Rinoa let out a faint chuckle, no it hadn't quite gone the way she would've like it. First Squall and Lucas have a run in, then her and Squall had a fight and now she was in a rolling car.

Rinoa felt her legs turn to jelly and she gradually began to lower herself to the ground.

"Are you sure you're ok?" Squall persisted.

Rinoa nodded again, this time managing to crack a smile. He smiled at her, the reassuring smile that Rinoa had hoped he'd flash at her, if only for a second it would but her heart at rest.

He gave her one last lingering look before he briskly walked over to make sure everyone else was alright.

Rinoa sighed, pulling her knees up to her chin as she did so. She tilted her head to the side and closed her eyes, searching her mind for memory of the actual crash but found her mind empty.

She couldn't remember any of it. It was like a dream; bits and pieces would come along but then drift away as quickly as she recalled them.

Zell came and sat down beside her, wrapping one arm around her shoulders in a brotherly type fashion.

"Crazy." He sighed.

"I can't remember what happened." Rinoa stated.

Zell nodded, not surprised in the least. He'd had his fair share of accidents before.

"I dunno why but sometimes when you go through something really freaky you just block it out." Zell replied.

"I wish you could block out what you wanted." Rinoa said, meaning more than what she said.

"Some things you're supposed to remember. If you didn't have bad times then you couldn't consider any of your times good."

Rinoa was more shocked by Zell's sudden wisdom than the crash. He just seemed to get this otherworldly intelligence that Rinoa hadn't seen on him before.

Rinoa caught Squall glance at her, he quickly turned his head back towards Selphie trying to act as if he wasn't staring at all.

She smiled, finally noticing the little signs that all inevitably led up to only one thing. She couldn't understand how sightless she'd been before; of course she'd been attracted to Squall from day one. She'd be considered crazy not to be but she jus blinded herself to what was really there.

"You get your good with your bad." Rinoa whispered quietly to herself.

_I thought this one got up quite quickly._

_The car crash was one that me and my two friends were in down at the river last year so credit for this chapter not only goes to my readers and reviewers but to them as well._

_Notice how there are beginning to be more and more Squall x Rinoa moments now? Oh and the whole Garden bit that was in the middle of this story somewhere isn't over yet, it's leading up to it._

_How'd ya like it? _


	18. Chapter eighteen

**The Delinquent**

Ff8 isn't owned by me, neither is Dr. Phil or anything else with a copyright on it.

_Ah ha, I see a lot of you are remembering the whole heavy rocks cascading down on Squall's head thing. Fear not it isn't forgotten just pushed aside for the time being. This is going to develop into one of those stories with a plot that makes you go "oh so that's why that happened…" _

Rinoa waved goodbye to Squall as she entered her house, glad to be home and praying that her nightmare of a day was over. Some parts of the day she'd like to hold onto and remember forever, moments that she knew she'd cherish while there were others that she just wanted to forget.

She'd realize before the end just how important those fond memories were, they'd shine a light on her in desperate times.

She dumped her bag on the floor and headed straight for the lounge, feeling that a nice big taste of Dr. Phil might make her feel better. He was so cool, a real guru or her generation.

It was then that she noticed the car keys on the table and the fact that the door hadn't been locked.

'_Fuck…' _

"Why aren't you at school?" Caraway called out.

She looked towards the stairs and saw him hastily cascading down them. He had a stern look on his face that Rinoa knew all too well, looks like her nightmare wasn't over yet.

"I forgot my maths book; I thought I'd duck out during study period and get it." Rinoa said quickly.

Unfortunately for Rinoa she hadn't quite got the art of lying down packed yet and the flaws of her lie were all too obvious.

"Why aren't you in your uniform?" Caraway growled.

She'd just insulted his intelligence with such a statement, well at least that's how he saw it.

Rinoa bit her bottom lip and tried to come up with something fast, she couldn't think of anything and was now thinking that it might've just been easier to tell the truth. Now not only does she have the argument ahead of her for wagging school but she also has to endure the lecture about lying to him.

"Why are you being such a dick?" Rinoa burst out.

"Excuse me!" Caraway yelled.

Rinoa cowered slightly at the tone of his voice, it was icy cold, the way it usually was when they were about to have a massive argument. This had been happening more and more lately, they were always at each others throats. Rinoa was noticing that if they weren't arguing then they weren't talking, this was now there only form of communication.

She was starting to miss the old caring dad that she had complained about when they first moved to Balamb but at the moment it all seemed like a distant memory. The thought saddened her but there wasn't anything she thought she could do about it. They couldn't go back to how it used to be now.

"I think you heard me." Rinoa stated, her resolve steadying again.

"You better watch what you say girl!" Caraway threatened.

Rinoa wasn't scared by the threat at all, she knew he wouldn't injure her physically and he'd already inflicted a lifetime's supply of emotional trauma.

"Or what you'll ground me? Send me to my room? You can't do anything to me now!" Rinoa shouted.

Caraway faltered for a second, unable to believe the audacity of this child. She was disrespecting him in ways that she'd never done before. He didn't know how to handle this.

"See, your nothing." Rinoa scoffed.

She turned quickly and exited the room, scrunching her eyes together and taking up a lot more pace when she was out. She knew that this wasn't over; this was definitely going to get ugly.

**---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

Squall lay on his bed, a dull smile spread across his otherwise tranquil face. He didn't know why but he just felt a wave of relief come over him after he'd blurted all that stuff out to Rinoa. It was as if it had been hanging over him but he hadn't been aware of it.

He heard his door creak open and glance up to see Ellone creeping in. She was in a white silk summer dress with red rose patterns on it. On her feet were a pair of brown slave sandals and had a white shawl wrapped around her bare shoulders.

On anyone else on earth Squall would've thought that she looked stupid, he might even point and laugh at her but on Ellone it looked as innocent as her true personality. She was such a naïve person and Squall felt it his duty to protect her from the world. She saw a completely different person when she talked to Squall; he let his guard down with her.

"You look pleased." Ellone stated.

Squall smiled wider, facing the ceiling once again. His put his hands behind his head and felt the familiar slouch as Ellone sat down on his bed.

"Ya reckon." Squall replied.

"What'd ya say to her?" Ellone enquired, excitement encasing her voice.

"Go annoy someone else." Squall moaned.

Ellone stood up from the bed, giving him "the look" as she went. This was a mixture of knowing and displeasure at the fact that he wouldn't just spill the beans.

"Bye…" Squall called out after her.

He suddenly wondered why she wasn't off doing something else with her day. He shrugged it off though; she hadn't asked any questions so why should he?

**------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

"Where in Hyne's name do you think your going?" Caraway snarled.

Caraway barged through the door. He looked absolutely furious.

"You can't make me stay here and listen to you nut out!" Rinoa screamed.

"You will do as your fucking told!"

"Fuck off." Rinoa shrieked.

She once again exited the room, knocking over a bag of groceries off the table as she did so. She kicked it on her way out and stormed off up the stairs.

"Come clean this shit up **now**."

"Get fucked I'm not your fucking maid!"

Rinoa slammed the stairway connecting to her bedroom shut, hoping like hell that he wasn't going to follow her now. She was relieved when she heard the front door slam and Caraway's car take off.

She sat in silence for a couple of seconds, enjoying the serenity of the place when Caraway wasn't in it. When he came home it became tense and the atmosphere was generally not pleasant.

She came out of her tranquil daze and dived off her bed. She grabbed her shoulder bag and quickly exited the house, not wanting to be there when Caraway came home again.

Without even thinking she headed over to Squall's, as she usually did when she and her father argued. She'd turned up on his doorstep in all sorts of states, furious, crying and ecstatic. The ecstatic one usually came about when she won a rip roarer of a fight.

Rinoa walked up to the front door and knocked three times then rung the doorbell. She didn't really know why she did that herself but she just did. It was sort of like her secret code to let everyone know it was just her.

The door swung open and an excited looking Ellone stood before her. Before Ellone could say one word Rinoa saw Squall racing down the stairs. He skipped the last five steps and dashed towards the door.

Ellone seemed upset by Squall's sudden company but didn't say anything; she just smiled knowingly once again and left, leaving Rinoa more than a little confused.

"I didn't expect to see you again today." Squall stated.

"Yeah well I didn't expect Caraway to be home either." Rinoa sighed.

She pushed past Squall and let herself in, feeling more at home in his house than her own.

Squall was somewhat disappointed by the fact that she'd only really come over because she didn't want to be at home. He understood though, if Caraway was his father he probably wouldn't want to be there too often either.

She made her way into the lounge and turned the TV on, making herself at home the instant she walked in the door.

Squall sat down beside her, absent mindedly sticking his tongue out the corner of his mouth and picking something out form under his nail once he was down.

"So what happened?" Squall enquired once he'd gotten out whatever had been under there.

"Nothing out of the ordinary, Caraway's just used to his military dictatorship type ruling." Rinoa stated.

Squall nodded, not really fully understanding but trying to as best he could. Raine and Laguna's style of parenting was far from Caraway's. They had much more of a laid back method.

Ellone soon entered the room, taking a seat on a nearby lazy boy.

Rinoa had decided to take a much more nonchalant approach to the whole 'Squall's inner feelings' thing. She didn't want to freak him out of anything and if she did then it might drive him away.

"Hey Rin, hows things?" Ellone asked.

"Cant complain, yourself?" Rinoa replied.

"Never better."

Ellone glanced over at Squall who was giving her the old fuck-off-and-leave-us-alone look. Normally she would've replied with her get-fucked-you-leave look but she wanted Squall and Rinoa to hook up as much as she wished her real parents were alive.

"Oh is that the time, sorry guys I've gotta go." Ellone said hastily as she ran out of the room.

She gave Squall a wink as she left, it would've been considered sly if it wasn't so obvious that Rinoa saw it.

"Well that wasn't half noticeable." Rinoa said.

"Your really getting a kick out of this aren't you." Squall said sarcastically.

"No I'm not really, you forget, I'm in this too."

Squall was going to retort somehow, but he couldn't really deny the fact that yes she was part of this. She was a part of everything now.

Lately they had been doing more and more outlandish pranks than they had done in years. Squall just felt that he had step up his game a bit when she was around, he had to impress her and the only way he really knew how to do that was to do what he was already first-class at better.

Squall sighed, resigning himself to the fact that unlike most of the shit he got into, this wasn't going to just go away. He could try though.

"So was your dad being a dick?"

Rinoa scoffed, continuing her channel surfing for a little bit before replying. Dick didn't even come close to what he was like sometimes.

"He would make an excellent totalitarian."

Squall nodded, he could actually see that. He'd felt the brunt of Caraway's anger before, Squall wasn't exactly Caraway's favourite person on earth and the fact that he was getting cosy with his daughter really irked him.

"I don't wanna talk about that fucking freak though. Who else is here?" Rinoa said quickly.

Although she was still brimming with pure unadulterated fury she didn't really want to make it worse by bitching about him. Bitching about him wasn't going to change anything.

"Just Ellone, Laguna's at work and Mom had to go to the orphanage today." Squall replied.

Raine frequently went and visited some hundred year old orphanage. It had been done up from an old abandoned one to a real nice one that housed many unaided children.

Squall had been there quite a few times with Raine but it usually depressed him. He just got this weird vibe there like the place had held onto all the children's feelings that had previously lived there.

But good came out of that place too, Raine would be gone for the night if she was going there. It was all the way on the Centra continent, why anyone would want to build anything on that place was a mystery. Because of something in the soil nothing could be planted except grass and weeds, some flowers survived but any type of food source would just die or not grow.

The soil was kinda red and it made the place seem unbearably hot, not to mention the high level of monster activity. It was completely beyond Squall why someone thought that it would be a good place to have an orphanage, but he didn't build it.

"Party at your house then is it?" a voice said from the door.

Squall looked over to see Seifer and Quistis standing at the doorway.

Quistis looked particularly pleased with herself while Seifer was looking angrier than a big fuck-off wasp that you've just sprayed with shitty fly spray.

"Whats your problem?" Squall enquired.

"I rolled my fucking car Squall, what do you think?" Seifer spat.

Squall scoffed at him, shaking his head with a huge grin set upon his face. It was that smart-ass, cheeky grin that just made your knees want to melt.

"Fuck up." Seifer snarled as he sat down on a spare chair.

Quistis bit her bottom lip as she sat down on a seat of her own, trying her hardest not to laugh. She really did get a kick out of this.

"What are you guys doing here?" Squall asked.

"I couldn't exactly go home right now because the maid will probably rat me in." Quistis stated.

"Loewi's on the piss." Seifer said flatly.

No need for an explanation there, Loewi was one of Seifer's foster parents. He was a little agro when he was drunk.

"We should do something." Rinoa stated.

"I'm with her." Seifer announced.

Squall hadn't actually planned on doing anything else for the rest of the day; things had gone so bad that he was starting to think that there was some sort of voodoo curse on this day. He had never seen a good day turn to shit so quickly.

"I better not; I've got too much on my mind to think clearly." Quistis sighed.

"I'll stay here with you." Squall said.

"Right then, let's go." Seifer said as he grabbed Rinoa by her elbow and led her out the house. "I'm borrowing your car, babe." He called out over his shoulder.

Quistis rolled her eyes but didn't say anything, she wasn't going to stop him even if she tried and if she managed to get the keys off him he'd go and hotwire it on principal.

She was also kind of glad to get some alone time with Squall, she could to air out all his dirty little secrets about Rinoa now.

She waited patiently for the soft purring that her car made when it was started. She heard Seifer reverse out the driveway and take off down the street. He didn't do a burnout or anything like that but Quistis knew that he would as soon as he got down the street.

"So…" Quistis trailed off, smiling cunningly.

"Fuck off, I'm not saying shit." Squall snapped.

"Oh you will so, so just spit it out or I'll beat it out of you."

Squall held his ground though; he didn't want to talk to Quistis about it one bit. If she knew then Selphie would know, then Irvine would find out, he'd tell Zell and then the rest of the world would know.

The only one that Squall actually felt he could talk to was Seifer, but he'd call him a 'fag' and laugh in his face. Usually he'd have a neighbourly chat with Rinoa but that wasn't going to happen any time soon now was it?

"Did you know the maximum speed for a free falling human is 190 km/ph and when they hit the ground they'd bounce like six meters in the air?" Squall said as he reached over and grabbed the remote from where Rinoa had been sitting.

"Yes I did Squall now stop changing the fucking subject!"

"Alright fine! She dived on me, like some sort of wild animal!"

"Oh she did not!"

Squall grimaced, wishing she'd just believed his little explanation. It would make life so much simpler. Rinoa would find out and nut sure but by that time he could've had an elaborately planned remark followed by some sort of cheeky grin that would surely make her putty in his hands.

Squall sighed, glancing over at Quistis. He didn't actually know why he bothered lying to her, she knew. She'd known him for way too many years not to know. They'd met when they were ten and had been attached at the hip ever since.

There was a 'fling' that happened once but they'd both been incredibly drunk and have never really spoken of it since. It was so many years ago now that it was unlikely to ever be talked of.

Then Quistis met Seifer and it changed somewhat. They'd always known each other but not on a friend basis really, in other words she thought he was a jerk and he thought she was a pompous wench. The part that changed was Squall's relationship with her, she'd gone out with numerous guys before but this was different. He understood though, they'd always be friends but she couldn't always be with him now.

"Fine! I said… what I said and she started going on about how I shouldn't run away or some shit like that and I said that she was just blind. Then she was saying something like not acting like nothing happened so I fucked off." Squall explained as best he could.

"What happened on the beach, Zell and Selphie said they seen you guys alone on the beach!" Quistis said excitedly.

"Nothing really, she just said she thought there was 'more to it than that' and I said there wasn't. We agreed to just forget about it and the rest is history."

Quistis shook her head, somewhat disappointed by his answer. She'd hoped that there had been a big dramatic scene where they both let out there true inner feeling and ravished each others awaiting bodies, but then she remembered that Squall was too awkward for that.

"That seemed a little anti-climatic…" Quistis sighed.

"I thought it lacked a certain flare." Selphie giggled from the doorframe that Quistis and Seifer had stood at.

"Does nobody knock around here!" Squall exclaimed.

"Psh, like you'd answer it you lazy bitch!" Selphie scoffed.

"What are you doing here anyway?" Quistis said, interrupting the potential argument that was no doubt going to ensue.

"Irvy had to go and help Seifer; he's having some car problems or something. So on the way he dropped me off here."

"They left like ten minutes ago!" Squall laughed.

"Nah he got to the docks and ran outa petrol."

Quistis sighed loudly, clutching his chest for air. She took a couple of seconds to recuperate, feeling her heart begin to rise up into her ribs after falling through into her stomach.

"Oh my Hyne, I think I had a heart attach." Quistis stated.

"Relax, Seifer'll be fine." Selphie said reassuringly.

"Fuck Seifer!" Quistis exclaimed. "He's driving **my **car!"

**---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

Seifer angrily booted the wheel of Quistis's car, feeling the anger rise up inside of him. This was not a good day.

Rinoa sat on the bonnet, idly staring out into the ocean. He took a seat beside her and leaned against the windscreen.

"Fucked up day, huh." Rinoa sighed.

"Mmm." Seifer replied.

Rinoa pulled her knees up to her chest, rocking her body back and forth, anything to sway the boredom.

Rinoa thought about her morning, against her own will she then started thinking about Squall. She was tired of thinking about him; she needed to talk to someone. Times like this she wished she had a mum but she didn't so she'd have to settle for the next best thing.

"Why did he have to say it so confusing?" Rinoa burst out.

Seifer chuckled, he covered his eyes with his arm, blocking out the glaring sun.

"Cause that's what Squall does. He can't just say shit."

"Why?" Rinoa enquired.

"Something to do with his childhood." Seifer said plainly.

"But Raine and Laguna seem like such cool parents. They would've absolutely poured love on him."

"A lot of people's problems aren't caused by parents. Think about it Rin, is ever single character flaw you have somehow connected to yours?"

Rinoa opened her mouth, about to express just how insensitive that was, she had a dead mother, which fucked her up considerably and her dad was a complete and utter asshole. But upon deeper contemplation she found that a lot of it came from her friends.

"I rest my case." Seifer said arrogantly.

"It still doesn't tell me why Squall's so emotionally constipated!"

"He just got let down a lot…"

Seifer thought about continuing for a couple of seconds, wondering if it was his place to say. If Rinoa didn't already know about Squall's past then maybe he didn't want her to know. Everyone else couldn't really comment on anyone else in the groups' pasts because they mostly had one themselves, Rinoa was a different story though.

"…Fuck it," Seifer muttered. "You know how Raine always goes to that orphanage?"

Seifer left the question open, waiting for her to say 'yay' or 'nay', she nodded in response.

"Well she did that a lot when he was growing up too; he started this whole 'she cares about those kids more than me' thing. Laguna showered him with attention but he was also a fucking maniac with his job and this left Squall parentless a lot of the time."

"Hey, I thought you said this wasn't parent related." Rinoa interjected.

"No I just said that not every problem is parent related. Major ones usually are."

At that second Irvine pulled up, openly laughing at them as he pulled over.

"Run outa gas Seifer?" Irvine said mockingly.

"Fuck up and fill the thing up!" Seifer growled.

**Ten minutes later**

Still grinning widely, Irvine took off, heading in generally the same direction as Seifer and Rinoa were.

"So, what about you then?" Rinoa asked.

Seifer looked at her inquiringly, not sure what she was talking about.

"What's your story?"

Seifer chuckled to himself, bending down and taking a seat in the driver's seat. He waited until Rinoa was seated before answering.

"Another day, maybe."

_This chapter was really just the aftershock of Squall expressing himself so it wasn't really terribly interesting. There had to be some because I've made Balamb somewhat like my own small hick-ass town and therefore scandal gets talked about till something more interesting comes up._

_Dedication of this chapter goes to not only the usual people (that's the readers and reviewers) but to my hick town, for being inspiring enough to base another town upon. _


	19. Chapter nineteen

**The Delinquent**

Don't own it or anything else that I don't own… not sure if that makes sense.

**About a week and a half after the "incident"**

Squall cracked one eye open, he lifted his head up but quickly propelled it back down into his pillow. The sudden movement had made his head spin and feel as though he was about to throw up.

All of a sudden he noticed just how squashed he felt, he looked to his left to see Rinoa comfortable resting her head on his shoulder, beside her was Selphie. Selphie was spooning Rinoa in her sleep and there was a little amount of saliva on Rinoa's jacket from her.

Then, making things worse than they really had to be was Zell, sprawled out like he was the only one in the bed. His arm rested on the top of Selphie's head and he was making occasional snores that Squall was wondering how he managed to sleep through.

Memories of his Friday night started to come back into place, all that had happened and all the embarrassments that he had had. As per usual he had made a complete ass of himself.

He did like one thing that came out of it though, he got to have Rinoa resting on him as he woke up and he was going to enjoy the moment. She was making that purring sound that she had made when he'd seen her before and somehow still managed to remind Squall of a chocolate commercial.

He closed his eyes and took in some of her scent; although it was lined with the disgusting stench of stale alcohol, she still smelt sweet to him.

But as usually happened to Squall in moments like this, still having a small smile set upon his lips, in came Laguna.

"Good morning, good morning, good MORNING!" Laguna sang loudly.

Squall grimaced, his head pounding with the ever syllable. He felt Rinoa jerk out of her sleep; she looked around the room in a hung-over daze but soon came to the realisation of where she was.

It was then that Squall finally looked around the room himself, on the beanbag was Irvine, trying to curl back into a ball and go back to sleep. Seifer and Quistis lay together on the fold out couch, Seifer now glaring menacingly at Laguna while Quistis tried to bury herself under the blankets to get away from the noise.

Squall liked having the whole gang at his house; it gave him more to do when he finally got out of bed.

"… The sun is shining it's a beautiful day, good morning, good MORNING to you!" Laguna continued.

"Please just go." Squall said groggily.

Laguna walked up to the curtains and opened them swiftly, making the entire room hiss like the light burned into their flesh. Squall lifted the pillow out from under his head and hurled it at Laguna; it barely touched him, Squall not having the energy to really throw it that far.

Rinoa groaned and covered her head under Squall's shoulder.

"Uncle, leave them alone!" Ellone exclaimed from the doorway.

Laguna laughed loudly, slamming the door as he went out. He got immense satisfaction out of doing that, it really ticked everyone off.

"Ellone," Squall called out woozily.

She opened the door and stuck her head inside, her face shining out sympathy that Squall loved to get from her.

"Can you please close the curtains?" Squall muttered.

Ellone nodded, apologising to nearly everyone as she came in the room. Within seconds the curtains were closed, Ellone was gone and Squall was fast asleep.

**Later that day**

Squall had showered, dressed, eaten and drunk enough water for his hangover to nearly be gone. There was still a lingering sick feeling in the pit of his stomach and he was feeling very tired but nothing that he couldn't live through.

As they inevitably always do, everyone had gone back to their homes. They'd stayed for breakfast though (more like afternoon tea) and had bumbed around for quite some time before they eventually left.

Squall now sat in his room, idly flicking through the pages of a car magazine and listening to some Metallica on his stereo. His thoughts weren't on the cars in the mag or the half naked women that modelled in front of them, it had drifted onto memories that he had long since pushed aside.

He couldn't get that strange building out of his mind; it had just suddenly came to him. He'd pretty much forgotten its existence what with all the Lucas trouble that had been going on.

He started to remember the strange images that had been in his head, the bizarre things that he'd been doing or saying.

Usually in dreams and things of that sort you had some sort of control over what was going on but this was like being paralysed and watching your loved ones turning off your life support. You want to scream out, to beg them not to, something… but you just cant.

'_I should go back there…'_

The more Squall thought about it, the more he felt that he should. There was some sort of connection there with him. He didn't know if he was being paranoid or stupid but a mixture of both had got him in and out of trouble and this time would no doubt be no different.

He had a feeling of trepidation about it though, he didn't know if he wanted to go back there alone but he didn't want to take anyone. He felt this was a personal thing and didn't want to get anyone else involved.

'_I wouldn't want to hurt you Rin…' _Squall thought, unavoidably turning his thoughts back to Rinoa.

He contemplated it for a couple more seconds, weighing up whether he really wanted to go or not.

"Fuck it." Squall said aloud.

He grabbed his car keys off his bedside table and switched his stereo off as he walked out the door.

"Where are you going?" Ellone enquired as Squall walked out the door.

"I don't have to tell you fucking everything!" Squall snapped.

He slammed the door and began walking down the cobble path towards his car, he turned slightly after taking a couple of steps, contemplating going back and apologising to Ellone but shook his head and kept walking. Ellone had taken more abuse from him over the years than that.

He was actually shocked at the amount that she had suffered and not done anything about. If it was him he probably would've slapped her by now but then again he always was a bit more aggressive than she was.

He got in his car and turned the key, Rollin by Limp Bizkit started blasting through his speakers and he swiftly turned it down a bit. He glanced in his rear mirror and noticed the curtains of Rinoa's home parted slightly.

The definite drawbacks of having someone you know living next door to you, you can't go anywhere without them knowing.

You even feel inclined to take them everywhere you go but before that familiar feeling of inclination came along he roared down the road.

It was then that he realised that he didn't actually have any idea where it was. He knew that it was quite far out of Balamb but didn't really know the exact location.

'_Someone's gotta know…Looks like I get a passenger…'_

"So tell me again why I'm coming?" Rinoa enquired.

"Because I can't remember where those ruins were. My big question is why Quistis is with us." Squall stated.

"Cause you two retards would no doubt fuck yourselves up." Seifer replied.

"Then why are **you** here?" Squall continued.

"I came for the drive." Seifer said.

Conversation ceased as Squall went over a particularly nasty pot hole. A few insults were thrown at him for that.

Squall was actually quite upset that he had to bring any of them. He felt this was his own job, something personal that he just had to do. He did feel more secure with them around though, there presence giving him a calm serenity that he wouldn't have if he was alone.

"There it is…" Rinoa breathed.

It really was breathtaking, the size of it made you feel somewhat insignificant. It still reminded Squall of a beehive though, or a melting ice-cream.

Squall parked his car and slowly got out of his car. Already feeling that eerie feeling that surrounded this place, it had the feeling that something terrible must have happened here it was a bad feeling that overshadowed any other.

"This place still creeps me out, aye." Rinoa sighed.

"I wanna check out inside." Squall stated.

"You can't go in there alone." Quistis advised. "I'll go with you."

"I'm off it; I'm just ganna hang here." Rinoa said.

Quistis looked over to Seifer, giving him a big cheesy smile that meant she was probably going to ask him something. It was that favour smile, the one that everyone uses.

"Can you stay with Rinoa?"

Seifer rolled his eyes and sat on the bonnet of the car, actually quite annoyed to be missing out on all the interesting fun, this meant he'd have to con Rinoa into coming for a mission.

Squall and Quistis walked towards the building with trepidation in their hearts and a ready to run at any moment. You had to be on your toes and this place just didn't feel right, not to mention the fact that last time they were here Squall got crushed.

"I'm not going up the stairs again." Squall stated.

"No I wouldn't think that too wise." Quistis chuckled.

She was trying to make light of the situation, usually Selphie or Zell would be doing that but they couldn't be paranoid and Squall wasn't going to be cracking any jokes any time soon.

They followed the bend to the right and passed one passage, it looked a bit too shabby to risk. They came to a second; this one looked a bit safer.

"Ladies first," Squall said, pushing her in front of him slightly.

"Fuck off! This is dangerous; the guy has to go first." Quistis retorted grabbing onto his arm and flinging him in front of her.

They walked warily over the rubble and down the dimly lit corridor. Once at the end of the hallway they saw a big steel door that lay bent and broken on the floor.

Quistis stared at Squall, her eyebrows raised and her lips pierced together in a tight lipped scowl.

"What do you suppose that was holding in, Squall?" Quistis enquired.

"I dunno; let's hope its dead now though."

Quistis knelt down and rummaged through her bag, soon she found her desired object. A brass knuckleduster sat wrapped around her fingers, it was her seventeenth birthday present from Seifer.

"If an angry Grat comes out how much damage do you plan to do with that thing?" Squall laughed.

It was a well known fact that although Quistis was an excellent fighter and was definitely not one to be fucked with, she hit like a girl big-time.

"Well do you see anything lying around we can use to protect ourselves?" Quistis jeered.

Squall rolled his eyes and turned back to the path ahead of him. Once they passed the metal doors they found themselves in a lush forest type place. The whole compound was overgrown with plants, vines and things of that nature but this place was just breathtaking.

You could hear the various animals scurrying around in the bushes and the path veered off in two directions. One led to a door that was closed, the same steel doors standing tall as the ones that had been on the ground.

"What do you think happened here?" Quistis breathed.

Squall contemplated the question; it was obvious that it was something bad, something that stained the place forever.

"I dunno…" he trailed off.

He began walking towards the only door that looked as if he could squeeze through. It wasn't open that wide, in fact it was mainly open at the top and still holding on at the bottom.

"You're not seriously going to go in there are you?" Quistis burst out.

"C'mon Quisty, you know you want to." Squall grinned.

Quistis stood firm though, her face giving off a mixture of disapproval and shame at his actions.

"Your curiosities ganna get the better of you anyway, you might as well come now when at least you've got someone to go with." Squall continued.

She let out a frustrated growl and began climbing on top of a small tree to get through the doors.

After about two minutes of trying they were both finally inside the complex.

As soon as Quistis took one step inside she wished she hadn't and Squall was definitely having his doubts now.

As they look around the trees parted and a loud thumping could be heard. Squall bit his bottom lip while Quistis clenched her eyes together tightly.

Squall slowly turned, nearly crying when he saw the huge, red, snarling beast standing about ten metres away from them. Its mouth was ajar and white saliva could be seen dripping from its hungry mouth.

"Quistis, whatever you do, don't move." Squall whispered.

"I wasn't intending to." Quistis muttered back.

Squall heard a loud screeching sound that could only be compared to metal scraping against metal and the monster took off.

"I hope whatever that was isn't worse." Squall said offhandedly.

"Don't you try to make this seem like nothing! You nearly got me eaten by some prehistoric dinosaur!" Quistis shrieked.

"Fuck up! It might still be around."

"I don't like this Squall." Quistis said downheartedly.

"Alright," Squall sighed.

Squall looked around his surroundings, looking for an easier way out than how they got in. he spotted a small bridge and then a door not too far ahead from them.

He grabbed Quistis by the forearm and started running for it, praying that whatever that monster was it wasn't planning on coming back anytime soon.

Squall kicked in the door and it opened surprisingly easy. Squall was expecting there to be some sort of lock or something but sometimes you just expect too much.

"Why the hell did I have to come? Why the hell do I always have to come?" Quistis kept repeating.

"Shhhh, you're supposed to be the poised one not me!" Squall exclaimed.

"I'm sorry Squall, its not every day that I get dragged half way across the country to go see some stupid ruins infested with monsters!"

Once they'd gotten over the initial shock of the dinosaur looking thing they looked around there surroundings and found themselves in quite a nice little setting.

Squall felt an unfamiliar feeling of uncertainty and hopelessness engulf him. It was the most surreal feeling, like he was drowning in a pit of despair.

"Something terrible happened here…" Squall stated.

"I know… we should bring Ellone out here." Quistis suggested.

"Why would we want to do a thing like that?" Squall cried.

"Well she's all spiritual, she knows about these sorts of things."

Squall gave her an incredulous look, why would he want to bring Ellone here? You wouldn't even get her in the door.

"She knows more than us anyway." Quistis finally burst out.

"I wouldn't really feel comfortable bringing her here." Squall sighed.

"I feel really loved right now." Quistis exclaimed.

"What?"

"You wouldn't bring her here but you'll bring all us!"

Squall didn't answer, not feeling that he should have to. He didn't have to look after them, they could all look after themselves pretty efficiently but Ellone was different.

She had an aura of innocence that followed her everywhere she went. It was sort of the same with Rinoa but Squall knew that he could protect her from anything; with her around him he knew that he could achieve all.

Ellone carried a different feeling though, it was the same purity just he took it in different ways. Ellone had always taken care of him when he needed her and now that he was older it was his turn to look after her.

Squall heard Quistis sigh and felt slightly bad for not giving her an explanation. Now they were pretty much stuck in this room, Squall doubted Quistis's want to go back outside again, and Quistis was pissed with him.

"What time is it…?"

Quistis barely had the words out of her mouth when suddenly Squall dropped to the floor. At first she thought he was only joking and told him to "cut his shit out" but upon closer inspection she found Squall out cold.

His eyes had rolled back in his head but his eyes remained open and he was mumbling something chronic.

"Squall, seriously not funny!" Quistis pleaded.

She bent down beside him and started furiously shaking his side, trying as hard as she could to rouse him from his slumber but to no avail.

Tears started to well up in her eyes but she didn't want to start crying over this, if Squall was just taking the Mickey out of her then she'd never live it down.

"Please Squall, cut it out!"

She began shaking him again, this time actually slapping him a couple of times. Finally realising that this was no joke she began to panic, not knowing what to do. She wanted to go get help but she didn't want to leave Squall in case some monsters got in.

So she did the only thing that she could think to do.

"HELP! Somebody please help!"

**Elsewhere**

"C'mon Rin, lets go explore." Seifer whined.

He'd been going on about it for about the last fifteen minutes and Rinoa still wasn't budging. She didn't like this place at all. It was too creepy for her liking.

"I'll tell you what, if something happens then we'll run straight back and steal Squall's car."

"Anytime I want?" Rinoa enquired.

"Anytime you want."

"Alright, but we don't go anywhere near the actual building."

"I can live with that."

Rinoa jumped off the bonnet of Squall's car and felt a cold chill run down her spin. This place had suddenly become worse, if that was possible.

"Did you feel that?" Rinoa asked.

Her eyes were wide and she was oozing anxiety. If it wasn't obvious before than now it should've been more obvious than dogs balls.

"You're losing it Rin." Seifer stated calmly as he began heading towards the wreckage.

"Why do I always manage to get stuck with you!" Rinoa spat out.

Her question was never answered, just ignored.

_HELP! Somebody please help!_

The words echoed off the walls of the compound and made there way into Seifer and Rinoa's ears.

Seifer glanced at Rinoa for barely a second before taking off in a spring towards the ruins, Rinoa at his heels the whole way.

'_Oh my Hyne, oh my Hyne, oh my Hyne…' _Kept repeated over and over again in Rinoa head.

"Quistis!" Seifer yelled.

_Seifer HELP!_

Seifer skidded to a stop and took off again in another direction. Rinoa had to admire his dedication to Quistis; it was really quite sweet if you thought about it.

It wasn't really the time to be thinking of such things but she started wishing that she had someone who would care about her like that again. She missed having someone constantly at her side when she needed them to be. The closest thing she to that was Squall and… well… that was just complicated.

Rinoa had a hard time keeping up with Seifer, he wasn't stopping for anything. He jumped over crumbled wreckage on the ground all the while never faltering for a second. He just kept following Quistis's voice.

'_Why can't I hear Squall…?'_

_I'm leaving it there cause I have to go back to work now. Sorry about this one taking so long but I had a lot to do this week plus the fact that I got a mild writers block for a couple of days. _

_The next couple of chapters are going to mainly focus on the mystery of Balamb Garden and Squall's revenge. I've gotta get to the big climax and then wrap it all up. It's nearly over guys! _

_Anyway, what'd ya think? _


	20. Chapter twenty

**The Delinquent**

I'm not the owner of final fantasy 8, or its story line or characters, etc. I am also not the owner of that "blah blah for dummies" series of books.

_Get yourself a snack; it's a long 'un._

Squall looked around his surroundings, feeling his customary sensation of apathy but this was different. A different sort that made him feel more alone than he had in his entire life. He felt as though no matter what happened in his life he was going to be set up for disappointment.

"Oh well." he heard Quistis sigh from beside him.

He soon recognised his setting to be that of the room that he had inhabited before he blacked out. Expect this time it wasn't all broken down. He could see various people all standing around wearing some navy uniform. He looked down at his own attire, praying that he wasn't suited up in the same garments.

Instead of the baggy jeans and t-shirt that he had been wearing before he had a pair of black leather pants with various buckles and two belts slanted across his hips. He had a black leather jacket on that seemed to be a little short at the bottom, not exactly the pinnacle of today's painstaking fashion.

It had white fur around the collar and was accompanied by a pair of, not surprisingly, black leather gloves. Just when Squall thought that he'd lost all sense of colour and was in a dreary black world he saw his white t-shirt underneath… tucked into his pants.

Only one thing remained the same, he still wore around his neck the same pendant that he wore usually. The pendant was a lion, it did originally have a name but Squall couldn't remember it. Who names there bloody trinkets anyway?

"I, Quistis Trepe, am no longer an instructor as of now."

"Quistis?" Squall whispered quietly.

He turned to look at her, wanting to laugh heartily when he saw her outfit. It was definitely a keeper, the kind of thing you need a camera to capture the moment forever.

It was sort of a peachy coloured thing; in fact it was a mixture of both orange and pink.

As per usual though, Quistis still found a way to pull it off.

She had brown boots on that went well under her knee length peachy skirt. She too had too many belts on, two being her count as well. One grey one wrapped around her slim waist and the other, a big meaty brown one, slanted across her hips. Two silver chains hung from the grey belt at either side of her body.

To match her skirt she had a sleeveless peachy coloured tight shirt with a zip going up the front of it. The top of the zip strangely done right up while the bottom was undone to reveal her toned stomach.

On her arms she had crimson separate sleeves that started at her wrists and went right up to her shoulder. Lastly there were the leather sleeves that seemed to be some kind of dress code around this place.

"I'm a member of SeeD now, just like you. Who knows, maybe we'll end up working together."

"What do you mean working together? Whats all this about?" Squall enquired.

He wasn't new to this "dream state" that seemed to be happening; he knew that she couldn't hear him or something like that, but he had to try. Maybe if he tried for long enough something would get through.

"Is that all your going to say?" Quistis cried out, seeming somewhat offended with whatever had been said.

Squall really hated this, he thought that the first time it had happened it had been because of his accident but nothing had injured him since he'd gotten here. One minute he was talking to Quistis the next he was talking to this… replica of Quistis or something.

"They told me that I failed as an instructor. Basically, that I lacked leadership qualities." Quistis continued.

"You don't fail at anything!" Squall exclaimed, still not quite used to the idea of a real but not real Quistis.

"I was a SeeD by the age of fifteen, got my instructor license at seventeen…"

"What the fuck is SeeD! What kind of fucked up government bullshit is this!" Squall burst out.

All he'd heard about last time was SeeD; it seemed to be something very important. How was he supposed to find out anything if he didn't even know what they were talking about half the time?

"Its only been a year since I got it…"

Squall closed his eyes, wishing that everything could be normal again. Reality wasn't that great but it was better than being confused all the time. Sure life had its own confusions but nothing like this.

'_Why does shit like this only ever happen to me?'_

"I wonder where I went wrong… I did my best…"

"Why are you bleating all this shit to me? Stop being such a complaining bitch and move on!"

"Are you listening?"

**

* * *

**

"What's going on?" Seifer exclaimed as he burst through the door.

He'd been on too much of a mission to bother worrying about any of the monsters that lurked. Even Rinoa had noticed any.

She gasped loudly when she saw Squall lying unconscious on the floor. His head was on Quistis's lap and his eyes were rolled back in his head, revealing only the whites.

"I dunno, he just collapsed." Quistis said panic quickening her voice.

"What did you do!" Seifer accused.

Immediately someone had to be at fault for this and it sure wasn't him or Rinoa.

"Nothing, I asked him what the time was and he just fucking collapsed!"

"Let's get him out of here." Rinoa declared.

"No, we shouldn't move him; we might do more harm than good." Quistis stated.

"Well we're not helping him by leaving him here." Seifer argued.

He bent down beside Squall and hosted him over his shoulder.

"Hyne Squall, cut down on the pies." Seifer grimaced.

"Just shut up and carry him!" Rinoa snapped.

Quistis suddenly had a thought, something she was more than used to. It was usually something to make there otherwise insane plan at least half way rational.

"Hold on, there's fucked up monsters out there." Quistis began. "We need something, like a weapon."

"Where the hell are we ganna get a weapon?" Seifer interrupted, dropping Squall on the ground as he did so.

"Seifer take more care of him!" Rinoa shouted.

* * *

Squall found himself somewhere new now; it was the lush forest that he had been in before he blacked out. Except now it was a lot tidier, there were the same paths either way and the steel doors stood tall and firm. 

Beside him he saw Rinoa, wearing some sort of blue outfit that made her look a little bit like a biker chick that went haywire. He had to admit though; it looked very sexy on her.

He'd seen a fair bit of her body already from there times together at the beach and waking her up in the morning but her just flaunting her body like that was a definite trigger.

He recovered from his trance abruptly, realizing that she may not like being stared at like the bitch in prison.

"You know, I can imagine you doing this on a first date. You're so romantic." Rinoa giggled.

"Why thank-you, you've been great to." Squall replied cheesily.

For unknown reasons she didn't answer at all, instead just started walking around. When she started taking on monsters and whatnot Squall decided it was time to leave.

He tried to tell her to come with him but she wasn't listening, so he left. If it was _Rinoa_ he wouldn't have but she wasn't really _Rinoa_… you know?

Surprisingly she followed him, walking beside him chatting endlessly about how excited she was to be here.

At first Squall was happy for her conversation but soon found it to actually be quite trying. She had a lot of Rinoa's qualities, the same love of life, the same endlessly chatting mouth and the same caring nature, but different.

He felt a strong bond with her though, something that he couldn't really put into words.

He loved the sound of her voice; it was like sweet honey on a hot day. Still, be as it may, she still didn't hear anything that he tried to say to her.

He turned left when they got to the end of the corridor and soon found himself in front of the shabby room that he hadn't dared go inside before. Now it looked like quite a pleasing place to be.

They walked through the varnished wooden doors and saw a professional looking desk and a small library. There were only a couple of shelves holding books but it still looked very classy.

"Wow! This is so cool!" Rinoa exclaimed.

"It's just a library…" Squall said flatly.

"Mind if I look around?"

"Why the fuck would I care?"

"Thanks!"

Squall watched her saunter off to the other side of the room, scanning the covers of a couple of books to see if they sparked her interest.

Squall felt an uncanny urge to walk to the back of the room, it was like when you crave chocolate, you can't just ignore that kind of longing.

"Hi," Some brunette girl said on the other side of the room.

He recognized her as Ellone and was particularly interested to see her presence in this state of unconsciousness, because that's all this was, just one big dream.

'_I could be having a relapse of my concussion… it could happen…'_

"You saved me from the monster." She stated plainly.

"What monster?" Squall enquired, still trying to make some sort of connection.

"Try to remember."

Squall felt himself exhale a breath that he didn't know he was holding. He started hoping that she had replied to him question. She could've heard him, it was Ellone after all… if anyone was going to break through it was her.

'_Remember… did she hear me or what? What does she mean?'_

"It'd be heartbreaking to know I was forgotten."

His heart dropped down to his stomach, she hadn't heard him at all, she'd just continued on with her conversation.

He didn't know what to do, how was he supposed to get through to these people if he couldn't even communicate with them. Not to mention the fact that whoever he was inhabiting emotions were starting to take over his own.

He just felt so alone, like he couldn't depend on anybody for anything, even something as simple as asking for a pencil or something like that, he

* * *

just seemed to be setting himself up for disappointment. 

"I think I found something." Quistis clapped.

She reached down and picked up a javelin looking thing. It was made of stainless steel all the way down it and the point at the end, while rusted to fuck, was still kind sharp.

Rinoa was still scourging around for something she could use. So far all she'd seen were rats.

"Here." Seifer said, extending out to her a pair of twin daggers.

She grimaced, hoping that she would've found something a little longer so she didn't have to get too close, but she bit the bullet anyway. She needed something and it didn't look like there was anything else in this room of any use.

Seifer picked Squall back up and they made there way out of the room. Quistis was peeking out a little bit more than the others, having seen that huge beast before. She knew that if something like that came around again her measly stick wasn't going to help her.

Quistis heard that same sound of metal scraping against metal, except a lot closer this time. Her head turned in that direction immediately and out of the bushes roared one of the uglier things she'd seen her in life.

She knew what this monster was, it was a Grat. Balamb country side was infested with them. She'd read somewhere that this hadn't always been so but something changed.

Rinoa gasped, not expecting to actually be attacked, she just thought Quistis was being paranoid. It ran at them; spit dripping from its open jaws and all four tentacles above its head staunchly.

Rinoa wished Squall was around to protect her from it, but now it was her turn. She had to protect Squall while he was vulnerable.

* * *

"Yes, Squall?" Ellone said, turning on her chair to look at Squall. 

"Are you Ellone?" Squall enquired.

"Yes…"

Once again Squall was fooled into thinking she'd heard him. It was beyond the point of infuriating now.

"What's going on Ellone!" Squall shouted.

"I do. I really love Uncle Laguna."

"What the fuck is going on Ellone! I can't take this shit!"

"I'm sorry, Squall. It's hard to explain… But… one thing…"

She paused taking a deep breath, Squall quite literally hanging off every word she said.

"It's about the past."

* * *

Rinoa ran at the beast, her daggers bared beside her. She jumped in the air, going for some sort of triumphant looking stab wound to the monsters head. Instead she was merely thrown aside by one of the tentacles. She fell on top of a fence, which didn't just tickle, it hurt. 

Seifer dropped Squall, realizing that the girls weren't going to be able to take care of this. He wrenched the javelin off Quistis and pushed her off to the side.

He too took his chances at running towards it, but instead of jumping in the air he thrust his weapon frontward.

It pierced into the Grats skin and greeny colored blood started to ooze out. It didn't pour out, it seeped.

It seemed temporarily taken back by the wound and Seifer took his chance to grab Squall and run. Quistis and Rinoa were at his heels the whole time, more than happy to get out of this hell hole.

When they came across the steel door out of there Seifer chucked Squall through it, still having no respect for his unconscious body. He helped Rinoa and Quistis get through before diving through it himself as fast as he could.

"What a fucking mission." Seifer puffed.

Before any reply could be made Squall's back arched and a loud gasp escaped his mouth. It didn't sound like a normal gasp; it was like he was trying to breath or something. Like his airways were constricted and this was his final plea for breath.

"What the fuck is wrong with him!" Rinoa fretted.

* * *

Squall was outside the ballroom that he had first seen Rinoa in this "dream world". The wind blew through his brunette locks and beside him, secreting a sort of tranquility that reminded Squall of the calm after the storm. 

He could hear laughter from inside and music, but he only had ears for Rinoa at this point. He felt closer to her now than he ever had before. He couldn't explain the emotions he was feeling.

Squall stared out towards the ocean, tranquility rushing through him. He had the best feeling that everything was going to ok from now on. Nothing bad could happen now.

His eyes drifted up to the stars and at that moment a shooting star rocketed across the heavens.

He glanced back down at Rinoa. She smiled and lifted one of her slender fingers towards the stars. He smiled too and on impulse, he stepped towards her, took her hand in his and pulled it to their sides.

He leaned in and planted a delicate kiss upon her mouth, loving the feel of her soft lips against his own. It was a magic moment that Squall wished he could keep forever, this was the closest thing to nirvana Squall could ever hope for in his life.

It wasn't a kiss that Squall was used to; he was accustomed to the passionate, hard, snog that usually happened under the influence of a lot of alcohol.

Nothing could ruin this, nothing… except Irvine and Selphie.

"Woohoo!" Selphie squealed from behind them.

He felt Rinoa smile against his lips, but he wasn't pulling away. This was too good to let Selphie wreck.

* * *

Rinoa now held Squall's legs while Seifer held onto his torso. He'd gotten way too heavy for Seifer to carry alone. He wasn't gasping or anything like that anymore, he was just unconscious. His eyes were still rolled back in his head and his mouth was slightly ajar but he wasn't freaking them out exorcist styles anymore. 

They were able to take it a bit slower now so it wasn't quite as chaotic as it had been in that forest area. They came across one part of the ruins that was flooded so they had to carefully step over that, some parts getting as deep as there thighs.

"How far are we?" Rinoa enquired.

Her voice was a little strained; Squall wasn't as light as he looked.

"I dunno, we can't be far yet." Quistis replied.

Quistis had taken up position of navigator, seeing as she was the only one not lumbering Squall.

"This fuck seriously needs to cut down on the fats!" Seifer groaned.

"This is hardly the time Seifer!" Quistis scowled.

There was about five minutes of silence, everyone concentrating on there temporary jobs rather than the arguments that they all wanted to get into. There emotions were running high at the moment and conversation was no doubt probably going to turn ugly.

"I wish he'd just snap out of it!" Rinoa cried, finally giving up on her façade of calm.

"He'll be fine… we've all come out of worse." Quistis said, trying to not only put Rinoa at ease but herself.

She couldn't say that she'd ever really seen anyone just blank out like that before, it wasn't something that she really wanted to be used to either.

It was more nerve-racking by the fact that it was Squall who was down. He was usually like a leader or something. The guy that you looked to when things got out of hand, but he was now relying on them and they were literally falling to pieces.

"I can't remember the last time you started seizure-ing out!" Seifer retorted.

"Really not helping Seifer!"

* * *

(Squall's new setting was nothing like the one before, before him was one of the more horrifying sites he had seen in his life. He was no longer even part of the proceedings going on around him; he just drifted around like a ghost, unheard and unseen.

The sinister part about it was he could hear himself sobbing. It was a sound that he himself wasn't too adapted to hearing but he still knew what it sounded like.

He noticed it was coming from a closed door on the other side of the room.

It was then that he noticed the trail of blood leading into that room; it was as if something had been dragged along it, not pretty.

He walked slowly towards it, afraid of what he was going to see. He wasn't sure if he wanted to know what was behind that door.

Nonetheless he slowly opened it, his legs ready to take off if they needed to.

Inside was the most horrifying thing he had ever come across, something so horrendous he wasn't sure if his brain could fathom it.

All over the walls was fresh blood and the carpet beneath his feet was stained red. He could see dents in the walls and what looked like a fancy boomerang stuck deep in the wall. He could tell by the razor sharp blade on it that it was a weapon.

Sitting in the middle of the room was Squall; he had blood all over him. It literally was making parts of his, previously, white t-shirt stick to him like a second skin.

_This could get confusing…To make it possibly less so, dreaming Squall will be referred to as (Squall and the crying Squall as Squall_

On his lap was Rinoa, her body lying flat on the ground except for her torso which was pressed up against Squall's body. She was by far in the worst mess. It was obvious that she wasn't alive.

Her dull eyes seemed to be staring at (Squall as he stood there watching.

Her hair was stuck together in clumps due to the sticky blood and she had several stab wounds all over her body.

Squall was rocking her back and forth, bawling continuously into her hair.

He pulled his head away from her, sniffing as he lay her down flat. He knelt beside her body, still crying, and kissed the necklace she had around her neck.

He bawled his fist together and slowly brought his head to the ground in-between his hands.

"I'm sorry…" he sobbed, "I'm so sorry."

(Squall flopped down on the floor, not believing what he was seeing. He felt tears start to well up in his own eyes.

"Please don't leave me…" Squall continued to weep.

He let out a sort of moaning sound and lay his head on her stomach.

"I can't do this alone."

(Squall watched in agony, the sight was almost too hard to bear. He didn't understand why he was seeing this, what did it all mean? Why did he have to be cursed with such a sight? If it was the future then he wanted to be blissfully unaware of it so that he might spend his last moments with her happy.

'_Hyne… why me?' _

* * *

Getting Squall out of this place was proving to be somewhat harder than they had expected. It was pretty safe to say this was no a place you wanted to be in alone. 

All kinds of beasts lay lurking in dark places and a couple of times they had been close to someone getting seriously injured or killed.

"Why is all this shit happening now?" Seifer snarled.

"I don't know! Last time we came here this didn't happen!" Quistis snapped back.

The worst part was most of the monsters ran straight at Squall, they seemed to be attracted to him and they had to defend him. Seifer was definitely getting it the hardest.

Naturally he was expected to fight a little harder, he being the male and all. It wasn't a sexist thing; it was just that he was naturally a fiercer and stronger fighter. The most Quistis and Rinoa could do to most of them was be slightly annoying.

"Fuck this, let's find somewhere safe and stay there till fucking coma victim wakes up!" Seifer finally cried.

They were in front of a corridor with moldy blue carpet; it looked somewhat shabbier than the one they had come out of.

"I don't know if I'm keen to go in there." Rinoa stated.

"What other choice do we have?" Quistis sighed.

"It might be worse in there." Rinoa argued.

"If it gets any worse than it already is then we can kiss our ass goodbye. We're better off taking a chance on this." Seifer finalized.

There was no point trying to argue now, two to one, Rinoa didn't have a choice. It wasn't that she had a bad feeling about it; it was just that it didn't really look terribly safe and Hyne knew how they were actually going to get in there.

"Right, Rinoa, you sit with Squall and me and Quistis will start trying to make some sort of way in here." Seifer said, taking up the role of leader.

Rinoa nodded, following orders without a scent of argument. She didn't mind someone taking up the role of leader, she certainly didn't want it. She didn't know what to do, if it was up to her they'd still be in that room they started in.

Hell if it was up to her they wouldn't be here.

After a somewhat arduous ten minutes they were finally inside the room. Inside was surprisingly well preserved; it looked as if it had been a sort of bunker to a lot of people. Unfortunately some of the "people" were still around. A couple of skeletons still lay around the place but the stench of death had gone. There was still a muggy stink to the place though.

Seifer took action of places an old cabinet in front of the entrance, making sure that no monsters could get inside.

"So what are we supposed to do? Sit and wait here until we die of starvation like these poor fucks?" Quistis exclaimed.

"Just fuck up and let me think!" Seifer yelled.

"Yeah, your fucking prodigy brains really ganna get us out of this one." Quistis replied sarcastically.

"Don't start that fucking sarcastic 'I'm better than you' shit! If you're so fucking great you think of something!"

"Well that's what we're ganna be relying on aren't we, your not ganna be coming up with any bright ideas any time soon."

Rinoa rolled her eyes, quite used to hearing there antics. They were always arguing, she wondered how the hell they were still going out. She knew that they loved it though; if those two were happy then there lives would be too relaxed. They craved chaos.

"If I remember correctly it was your fucking idea to come in here in the first place!" Seifer shouted loudly.

Shaking her head, she reached up into one of the shelves and pulled out a book. She blew on the spine and written faintly in gold print was the title.

"The Sorceress's Knight…" Rinoa read aloud.

She'd never heard of it but it intrigued her. She remembered reading about 'Sorceress's' but they were sort along the same lines of Dinosaurs, they just weren't around anymore.

She opened the large book in the middle and read a couple of lines.

_He vowed to protect her from all evils; any kind of hurt that they may try to inflict on her would have to somehow get through him first. This was his oath to her, stronger than any that he may ever pledge. _

Rinoa tossed the book to the side, deciding that it was a little too old school for her. There had to be something more interesting. She once again randomly reached up and pulled a book from its shelf.

Blowing on the cover she read the words 'Basic History for Beginners'. She chuckled a little at the title; it was kind of like those 'Sign Language for Dummies' and 'Exercising for Dummies' books, just old school.

She opened it and read along the index, skimming over the chapters for something that might take her interest. She came across the words 'Influence of the Sorceress in middle day'.

'_What's with all the stuff about Sorceress's?' _Rinoa thought to herself as she scanned through the book to find that chapter.

_While it is a widely known fact that all Sorceress's must have a Knight, all throughout history it has been the Knight that would endure any kind of torture to protect there Sorceress. This also explains why it is probable that in the face of death the Knight will be slain first._

_Often in Middle age times the Knight would be bound and forced to watch the burning of his Sorceress. This would be enough torture to make a Knight go insane, having failed to protect his mistress he would often go insane and either seek revenge or if the pain was too great, commit suicide._

Rinoa flicked past that part, it seemed a little depressing. She couldn't imagine giving all her services to one person; it was sort of like slavery. At least that's how it was coming off.

_Sorceress's, when found out, were usually put to death but once it was found out that when killed there powers jumped to someone else they were locked inside a sound proof cell where they would be locked until they died. It was widely thought that if they could be heard then they would put a spell on whomsoever might be listening and would get free. Once free they were thought to seek revenge for there imprisonment._

"You wanna read some of this." Rinoa stated, interrupting there argument. "It's quite interesting."

"How is…" Seifer began; he walked towards her and looked down at the cover of her book, "Basic History for Beginners going to help anyone?"

"Well if this is 'basic' history then why haven't I heard of any of it?"

* * *

"I don't want to be here anymore… please don't show me anymore." ?(Squall said distantly. 

He was still staring at Rinoa's lifeless body. It was then that he tore his gaze away from her eyes and down to her body. Something shimmered in the dim light and (Squall's stare was fixated on her hand. Her left hand to be more specific, on her ring finger was a shiny silver engagement ring.

'_She was his fiancée…' _

* * *

Squall's eyes shot open and he gasped for air as he lifted himself up into a sitting position. In an instant he had both Rinoa and Quistis at his side. Seifer stood off to the left, not wanting to seem too fussed about Squall's situation. 

"Are you ok?" Quistis said worriedly.

"Where's Rinoa." Squall panted.

"I'm right here." Rinoa whispered.

She took his hand in her own, caressing his skin softly. She was more relieved about him being ok than she had thought she would be. She could breathe easy knowing that he was alright and was starting to think that everything might be ok.

"Rinoa…" Squall said tenderly.

He stroked the side of her face, smiling softly as he did so. It was the greatest feeling in the world to see her alright and he wouldn't let anything happen to her. He wasn't going to be like that "dream Squall". Rinoa was going to be just fine.

"Please don't do that again." Rinoa chuckled.

"Don't worry Rin, your never going to get rid of me now."

_Didn't even try to leave a cliff-hanger, I think enough happened in this chapter to allow myself to just let a chapter end. Ten pages, that's gotta be some sort of record! _

_I apologise if that whole double Squall thing was confusing but I didn't know how to do it and I really wanted to do it._

_You may not want credit for such a depressing chapter but nonetheless recognition to my readers and reviewers. _

_Even though it was a slightly "OFF" chapter, what were your thoughts on it? _


	21. Chapter twenty one

**The Delinquent**

_Sorry it took me ages to get this out, my brain sorta froze over and I got caught up in other shit. _

How could she explain it? Seeing Squall conscious again was like jumping into an ice cool lake on a hot summer day. The weight that had been on her shoulders was finally lifted and she could breathe again.

Unfortunately just because Squall was now back in action didn't mean they were any closer to being out of this mess but it was a start. The idea that Squall might have a relapse of whatever had happened had already been brought to the discussion but they couldn't worry about that unless it happened. How were they supposed to stop that? Make Squall wear a helmet?

No the idea was ludicrous so the only thing that could be done was pray to Hyne that such a relapse never occurred.

"True as that may be Seifer, it still doesn't help our current situation." Quistis sighed.

Seifer's main concern at this point had been starving to death. Rinoa was somewhat shocked that such a matter would worry him. He seemed like the type of person that would bring up the fact that humans can go for twenty eight days without food.

"Humans can go for twenty eight days without food." Squall said seriously.

Rinoa had a wee chuckle to herself; it seems that her prediction of Seifer being that sort of person had been wrong.

"Well I say we just risk it, staying in here waiting for someone to find us isn't going to work." Rinoa stated.

"What about Irvine and Selphie…" Squall began.

"She's right Squall. Even if we could reach them somehow would you want them to come here?" Quistis interjected.

Nobody would want that, not after the day they'd had inside this place. Squall was beginning to wish he'd never followed his impulse and came here. If he hadn't then neither would have any of the others. Nonetheless, something drew him here and whatever it was it was going to keep on drawing him here.

"It doesn't matter, they've got no idea we're here and to make matters worse there's no cellphone coverage. You could say we're pretty much fucked!" Seifer replied, throwing up his hands to push his point more.

"Fine, we'll go but everyone has to have something to protect themselves with." Squall finalised.

Quistis had forgotten about her weapon when her and Seifer had been trying to get inside the library while Rinoa's had been flung from her hand when she'd been tossed away by the Grat.

Seifer chucked a couple of bits of debris and grinned widely when he found a leather whip with a blade encrusted at the end of it.

"Hey babe…" he called out, obviously referring to Quistis. "We should take this back as a souvenir."

He raised his eyebrows suggestively at her and she rolled her eyes back at him. She snatched it out of his hand and did a pose before tucking it into her belt and walking away.

Seifer chuckled and looked further to his left. He saw, sitting on the ground a very old looking gun.

He picked it up and examined it. It was rusted something wicked and was obviously not going to be much good at this point but still worth a look.

"What have you got there?" Rinoa asked as she approached him.

"A gun, she looks pretty fucked though." Seifer replied.

"We should take it with us; Irvine's into that sort of shit isn't he?" Squall enquired from across the room.

Seifer nodded and passed it to Rinoa, having no plan of hauling that item around with him. Further weapons found was a sort of knuckle-duster that you put on with spikes coming out of the knuckles, a long wooden staff with a white crystal embedded into the top of it and a spear looking thing quite similar to the one that Quistis had had earlier.

"I don't know what damage we plan to do with these…" Quistis muttered.

"Better than nothing." Squall sighed.

He walked towards the entrance, took a deep breath and nodded to Rinoa and Quistis to pull down the cabinet that they had thought was protecting them from the ravenous monsters that lurked outside.

But, somewhat anticlimactically, there was nothing, nothing prowling in the dark, nothing jumping at Squall and nothing stopping them from calmly walking out of this place.

"I thought you guys said that everything was trying to eat me." Squall said.

He turned to the others, wondering if had just been some sort of joke to get him all worked up but one look at there shocked faces proved that theory otherwise.

"There was!" Rinoa exclaimed. "Big ugly green things and a jelly blue thing!"

"Well there's nothing out here now." Seifer interrupted.

"Not that I'm complaining." Quistis laughed.

Without anymore banter they cautiously made there way towards the exit. Rinoa watched Squall out of the corner of her eye, making sure that he wasn't going to have some sort of relapse. The little she knew about Squall's collapse was that he had just fallen over. Quistis was talking to him and the next minute he just fell.

Quistis sighed in relief when she was outdoors and in the sun again. Being out of that place was like she was finally breathing again. She wasn't going to deny the fact that that would've been what she would consider one of the worst times of her life.

Putting aside the fact that she had lived a somewhat sheltered life and her personal trauma's might not have been as horrific as other company would've undoubtedly have been.

"Well that was fucked." Seifer stated clearly as he took a seat in the front passenger seat of Squall's car.

He'd been the first one to get to the car, obviously over-keen to get out of this place. Understandably though, it wasn't somewhere someone might want to spend their leisure time.

Quistis and Rinoa sat in the backseat. Quistis lay her head back against her seat while Rinoa pulled her legs up beside her, not feeling comfortable with them on the floor.

Once Squall was seated he turned his ignition and took off down the road. Nobody talked for what seemed like forever. It wasn't that they didn't have anything to say, quite the contrary; it was more the shock of what they'd just been through.

They could even say that worse had happened, disturbing things happened to them all the time and usually it involved someone getting injured. It was just that this was actually scary.

"I wanna go home." Rinoa whispered.

She'd thought of nothing but being safe inside her house since she'd sat in the car. This would've been one of the few times she actually referred to that residence as her 'home'.

"Sure thing Rin," Quistis replied softly.

"Well I think that I can quite confidently say that that is the last time I'm going anywhere with you Squall." Seifer declared.

Rinoa and Quistis laughed in the back, it wasn't really that what Seifer had said was funny, it was more for the fact that they finally felt safe. That little statement seemed to be the moment that most of them realised that.

After Squall losing consciousness, monsters chasing them all through the place and being stuck inside a room that was surrounded by death they could finally release all there paranoia.

Paranoia could keep a person alive; it kept you on your toes and made you aware of everything around you.

The air seemed lighter inside the car now and everyone felt they could talk freely. Atmosphere had been thick with the stink of trepidation before.

Balamb was soon coming into view and before they knew it they were idly driving through its streets.

Rinoa had her head leaning against her seatbelt with a small, dull smile on her face. She was just so happy to be somewhere familiar, somewhere where she was back in control. Because that's what she thought had been taken away from her in those ruins, her control. She couldn't do anything to stop what was going on around her and it had really made her feel small.

She closed her eyes for a second, feeling the sun on her face and letting the calm Balamb aura engulf her.

The entire car wasn't speaking, just staring out the windows.

"Why does this town feel so perfect?" Rinoa muttered.

"What are you kidding?" Seifer exclaimed. "This place is a shit-hole!"

"It's a million times better than Deling's ever been." Rinoa replied.

Squall rolled his eyes; he could already see a potential argument. Quistis just had to take Rinoa's side and the three of them would have at it. As per usual though he was going to be impartial about it and try to pay attention to the road.

His thoughts began to drift as Quistis's voice could be heard, backing Rinoa's side just to bother Seifer. It was such an interesting bond to watch, it really put him off having a relationship though.

He couldn't put all unions it that category, Selphie and Irvine were a completely different kind of relationship. They barely argued and just seemed to be having a blast all the time.

The only time it would really ever stop was if Irvine's wandering eye would get a bit too much for Selphie. Irvine had received many punches to the face for straying too far from Selphie and usually it wasn't her throwing them.

Squall pushed the thoughts out of his mind; he didn't want any of that for himself. Constantly arguing and just waiting for someone to cheat on you, or for you to cheat on your partner. It all seemed like a waste of time; he was fine all by himself. He'd had just as much fun as all of them, if not more.

Life was pretty sweet when you didn't have to answer to anyone, you could live your own life.

Squall smiled, happy to be back in his comfort zone. He was happy, of course he was. His life was fine just the way it was.

**Twenty minutes later**

Squall smiled once again when he saw his own home down the street. All he wanted to do was to curl up in a little ball somewhere and go to sleep. Its funny how when you really don't want anything to happen the most unbelievable things do.

He pulled into his driveway and noticed something yellow and glistening in the sunlight.

'_What the fuck…' _he thought to himself as he quickly exited his car.

Sitting on Rinoa's front porch was Lucas, the epitome of everything that Squall hated. Not to mention the fact that he was obviously going to be begging Rinoa for forgiveness or something which was something that Squall just couldn't have.

"Squall… please. If you care about me as much as you claim to you wont." Rinoa said quietly.

Squall stared at her for a couple of seconds. One side of him wanted to jump the fence and have at him. Just to tear into him like no one he had torn into before. Make him bleed so badly that young children would be pointing and laughing at him for weeks.

"… Whatever…"

He turned and left her, not looking back. It wasn't like he didn't understand, he didn't want Rinoa to go around and beat the living shit out of every girl he'd been with, it was just that he respected Rinoa and Lucas had disrespected her. Not mention the fact that he was a total dickhead and Rinoa's ex-boyfriend.

Rinoa sighed, she knew that Squall wasn't made, probably more disappointed than anything. Rinoa had hoped that Lucas wouldn't show his face, at least not at her house! Not with Squall living right next door. It made having enemy house guests a little difficult.

Now not only did she have to endure a painful session of Lucas whining she had to explain to Squall that nothing was going on.

'_Hold up! I don't have to explain anything to him.' _Rinoa thought to herself.

She sighed nonetheless, even if Squall didn't ask questions, one of them would. Squall would probably already be on the phone, no doubt talking to Seifer who would tell Quistis and so on and so forth.

Making her way slowly over to her property was like walking down death row. She didn't want to have this conversation. She just wanted it to be clean cut and easy but when you've been with the same person for two years then suddenly cut everything off you had to expect something.

"Rinoa I-"

"What are you doing here, Lucas?" Rinoa cut in abruptly.

Lucas looked up at her from the step he had been sitting on. He looked weary so it was obvious that he'd been there for quite some time.

"I just wanted to talk. I think you owe me that." Lucas muttered.

Rinoa nearly said no but she couldn't. She knew that in reality it had been him that had ended it, not her but how could she? You don't just stop loving someone.

"Alright but if I ask you to leave, you're leaving."

Lucas nodded; he stood and made way for her to pass him. Once inside Rinoa's house she sat down at the kitchen table, actually quite glad to be out of Squall's sight.

She could feel his eyes on her the whole time she was out there but she didn't want to look over at see where he was. His eyes had been burning into her back and she could almost feel his hate wafting over.

Lucas sat on the seat beside her, smiling to himself knowing that Rinoa was finally going to talk to him. He could hopefully bring her to her senses and make her realise that this little charade she was putting on wasn't her. He knew her better than anyone did and this wasn't her.

"I'm listening." Rinoa stated.

"Ok uhhh- I had a big speech ready but now that I'm here I've forgotten it." Lucas chuckled.

Rinoa smiled despite her desire to stay looking annoyed. He being in front of her like this was making all her feelings come back. He was still the same blundering self; he still didn't have the ability to form into words what he really felt. It may have been because he wasn't the brightest crayon in the box but she wasn't there to call him names.

"I- I'm sorry for what happened. I didn't want it to turn out that way." Lucas said downheartedly.

"Yeah well, can't really change it now can we…"

"No Rinoa, your wrong we can!" Lucas exclaimed.

He obviously took what said in a more metaphoric way than she had meant it.

"We've survived worse than this. I love you, Rinoa."

The words struck into her like a scoldingly hot knife. He loved her, she knew that but the question was did she love him enough to try again? Could she honestly say that she could forget everything that had happened in the time she'd been in Balamb and go back to her old life. Because that's what she's have to do.

She wasn't having any illusions about Squall and co. accepting him. Could she honestly say that she'd give up everything for him, all her new friends; her knew life, Squall…

"I'm sorry, Lucas. I can't." Rinoa whispered.

"I'm nothing without you. You're everything to me." Lucas continued.

"I realised something, it wasn't a relationship for us, it was for everyone else. At first it was the start of something but I think we lost sight of who we were. When I was in Deling I was your girlfriend but here I'm Rinoa."

"I can't believe your dumping me for that pasty fuck." Lucas said after a few seconds.

Rinoa was shocked, it had all been fine before and suddenly the conversation was doing a 360.

"It's not like that Lucas and you know it. Things just turned out this way."

"I can't believe that you're just going to end it, just like that."

"Stop being so fucking melodramatic about it!" Rinoa burst out.

"Stop being fucking casual about it!" Lucas retorted.

Rinoa rolled her eyes; she was starting to get sick of this conversation. Thoughts such as, '_it might've been better to let Squall deal with him' _and _'I'm so fucking over listening to this shit,' _started to drift in and out of her head.

"You can leave now." Rinoa said calmly.

"No Rinoa, I'm sorry it's just that I can't believe that you're doing this!"

"Well believe it Lucas; I'm sick of speaking with you. Leave."

"You can't just dump me! I won't let you!" Lucas cried.

"Is everything alright in here?" a voice from the hallway enquired.

Rinoa turned and had never been so happy to see her father. For once he was actually going to be of some use instead of just being a constant hindrance on her otherwise stimulating life.

"Fine Dad, Lucas was just leaving." Rinoa stated.

Lucas shook his head, grabbed his jacket and abruptly left the premises. But not without giving Rinoa a deadly look that told her that this wasn't over yet. She knew him well enough to know that this wasn't going to just finish now. She had hoped that before he was going to be too ashamed to try anything but now it appeared he was going to be after retribution.

"Are you alright?" Caraway asked awkwardly.

There relationship had been badly damaged lately as well. They barely spoke unless it was to throw around some sort of insult. Rinoa wasn't happy about the way it was but didn't think that she could change it.

"I'm fine. Can you send Selphie up to my room when she gets here?" Rinoa replied.

Not that Selphie had announced her coming yet, Rinoa knew she would. She'd probably be there soon as well.

Caraway nodded and left. Going to wherever it was he spent most of his time.

**Ten minutes later**

Rinoa had drifted off to sleep, her day being far too stressful for her liking. Plus the fact that she still had a hangover was really killing any energy that she may have had.

She was startled awake with Selphie diving on her bed. She had a stern look on her face and was obviously here to scold her.

"What are you thinking? Inviting a disgusting pig like that into your house!" Selphie began.

Rinoa smiled and stretched her arms above her head. She had hoped to get more sleep than she had received but it was a bit late now.

"And right in front of Squall, how the hell are you two ganna blossom with that bitch hanging around!"

"Selphie stop! It's alright, I told him that it was over and he understood." Rinoa lied.

She didn't want to start anything, if she told Selphie that she was nervous that Lucas was going to do something crazy then she'd tell Squall and Squall would nut out.

"Well I would've thought that he should know that it was over. Squall's absolutely fucking nutting!" Selphie giggled.

"I can only imagine." Rinoa sighed.

"I wonder why he's so angry…" Selphie said slyly.

"Don't start Selphie! I don't need another lecture about how 'meant for each other' we are. All you want is someone that will go on double dates with you and Irvine."

Selphie shrugged, she couldn't deny that. Seifer and Quistis never went anywhere with them as a couple so they weren't any fun. Not that she expected Squall to be any different but Rinoa might be able to coax him.

"C'mon Rin, Squall's hot and he's not ganna make any moves so why don't you just dive on him!" Selphie whined.

"Call me a traditionalist but I don't believe on just 'diving' on people." Rinoa said flatly.

**Elsewhere**

Squall paced around his room, he had the phone to his ear with Zell on the line.

He'd already talked to Seifer and Selphie so next on his list was naturally Zell.

All he seemed to be doing is making him angrier.

"I couldn't!... because she told me not to… I don't care what you would've done!... this boy just doesn't quit… she better not have… fuck up!"

"Whats got you so angry?" Ellone asked from the doorway.

She'd completely forgotten about Squall's outburst at her earlier. He was her brother after all; he wasn't going to be nice to her all the time.

"I'll ring you back." Squall said to Zell before hanging up the phone.

Squall threw the phone on his bean bag and sat down on his bed.

"Lucas is at Rinoa's house!"

Ellone had been kept up to date with the whole Lucas situation by Squall. She was a very easy person to talk to.

"So?"

"So? So! Do you not listen!"

"Don't get angry at me. They went out for two years Squall; do you think she's just going to forget all that?" Ellone said wisely.

Unfortunately didn't have the desired effect and it only made Squall worse. Now he had thoughts in his head about them getting back together, he hadn't thought about that before.

He'd been more worried that he was going to start on her again and he wasn't gong to be there to stop him. Now the reality of what really might be happening in there got the better of him. Two years was a long time to give up on a relationship.

"Thanks a lot Ellone, you can fuck off now." Squall snapped.

"Now Squall your being stupid. If you trust her than it wont worry you. Besides it's not like she's your girlfriend anyway." Ellone said before she left.

Squall grimaced at the words; he hated the thought of having all these emotions and nothing to show for it.

**Meanwhile**

"So…" Rinoa began; she really wanted to know what Squall said. "Did he say anything interesting?"

"Why do you ask?" Selphie replied casually.

Rinoa didn't reply, she just shrugged her shoulders and continued staring out the window. She strategically didn't look out any of the windows facing Squall's house, Selphie would take that as a sign.

"He just ranted that Lucas was a piece of shit… what was it?… he said something quite good… OH YEAH! 'Lucas is nothing but a two-bit, son of a bitch, rat, bastard.' I thought that was quite good." Selphie said mimicking Squall perfectly.

Rinoa chuckled; she could imagine Squall going into a rant like that. He always seemed to get a bit excited when he was mad.

"I feel bad; I sorta blackmailed him into it. I told him that if he cared about me he wouldn't."

"Rinny how could you! You know how he is about things like that. You're really making things hard!"

"Oh I'm sorry I'm not keeping to your little soap opera." Rinoa replied sarcastically.

"Well don't let it happen again, you're fucking everything up!"

Rinoa was actually quite used to hearing about Selphie's big plan for them; Quistis was in on it too. She wasn't sure if Squall knew anything about it, she didn't want to just come right out and ask him. She could just imagine that conversation… "Hey Squall, has Selphie told you about her big plan for you and me to get together?"

No thankyou, it was a touchy subject as it was.

"I wonder what everyone's doing…" Rinoa said, changing the subject dramatically.

"I dunno, I was going out of my mind before!" Selphie exclaimed.

"Why's that?" Rinoa yawned.

"I couldn't find anyone! Everyone had just disappeared off the face of the earth! Where were you guys anyway?"

Rinoa opened her mouth to reply and then closed it again. Not really sure what she should tell Selphie. Selphie had a bad habit of overdramatising everything so something like her day would make Selphie loose the plot.

"We went to those old ruins, just a road trip. It was kinda random…" Rinoa replied.

She was really keeping up with her deceiver attitude today. She really didn't like lying to Selphie but she didn't want to be the psycho one that told Selphie that they were attacked by monsters all afternoon and Squall had an out of body experience.

"Ow, that would've been fun! Why didn't you get me?" Selphie moaned.

"Sorry Selph, like I said it was pretty random."

Selphie dropped it after that, there wasn't really much she could do, what's done it done.

**Elsewhere**

Squall grinned widely when he heard the car pull up his driveway; he'd been waiting for ten minutes for this to happen. The doorbell rang and without waiting for anyone to answer the door flung open.

Squall slid down the stair rail and landed expertly on the ground. He'd had quite a few years practise. Waiting rather impatiently in the lounge was Irvine, Zell and a very aggravated looking Seifer.

"This better be fucking worth it." Seifer growled.

"Yeah aye, I was sleeping!" Irvine whinged.

"That shit-pig Lucas is back. He was just right in my territory!" Squall exclaimed.

"Isn't Rinoa's house _her_ territory?" Zell interjected.

Squall glared at Zell, not believing that he interrupted him with such a stupid comment. Of course Rinoa's house was his territory; anything in this town was _his_ territory.

"Sometimes I wonder how the fuck you get dressed in the morning." Squall said flatly. "Of course Rinoa's house is my territory; this whole fucking street is my territory!"

"What are you a dog?" Irvine laughed. "Did you piss on the side of every lamppost?"

"Just shut the fuck up! You all know what I mean! He is openly mocking me."

Squall paused for effect; he had planned his speech from ranting and raving in his room to himself. He really did see it as a sign of impertinence.

"So what are we ganna do?" Seifer enquired.

"Nothing yet, I have to wait till he leaves." Squall replied.

"I don't think this is a good idea." Zell burst out.

Everyone looked at him incredulously; of course it was a good idea! It was that much more unbelievable by the fact that it was Zell who had said it. Usually he would be the one rallying everyone up; in fact usually he'd be the worst one out of all of them!

"What do you mean you don't think this is a good idea!" Squall retorted.

"Well, it's clear that you don't want to get him now because Rinoa doesn't want you to, otherwise I reckon you'd already be scrapping. If Rinoa doesn't want you to do this then shouldn't we respect her wishes?"

It was like some sort of miracle, an experience so rare that you had to pinch yourself just to accept that it was real. Zell had a moment of pure wisdom.

That didn't necessarily mean that they agreed with him…

"She doesn't know what the fuck she wants." Seifer stated.

"Now now Seifer," Quistis said from the doorway, they'd all been far too busy talking to even notice her. "No reason to stop being a lady."

"Why are you here!" Seifer exclaimed.

She was like a disease that followed him around everywhere, the fact that she had the same friends as he did really was a pain in the ass!

"I was invited! **You** didn't pick me up!" Quistis snarled.

Seifer smirked; it wasn't his fault that he was an arrogant prick sometimes.

"Y'know, it's no wonder that her parents hate you." Irvine laughed.

Seifer glared at Irvine, everyone knew why Quistis's parents hated him. He was… uhhh… lower class shall we say.

"Why do we keep changing the fucking subject?" Squall grimaced.

"Chill out soldier, I was thinking of a stealthier way of getting your vengeance for his blatant insolence…" Quistis began.

**About a fifteen minute drive away**

Lucas stood on the white sand that lined Balamb's ocean. It was a clear day so he could faintly see the peaceful town of Fishermans horizon. He picked up a stone and threw it aimlessly out into the sea, hoping that the gentle crashing of the waves and calm serenity of that sea atmosphere would compose him. He had hoped that his talk with Rinoa would've gone a lot better than it did but it was too late now.

Lucas closed his eyes tightly to try and forget all the bad memories of his 'vacation'. Some vacation it had turned out to be.

'_I can't go home knowing that I'm leaving her like this…' _he thought to himself.

He sat down on the slightly damp sand and hugged his knees under his chin. His mind was now on things other than how badly his talk with Rinoa had gone.

'_This isn't her… she needs to remember who she is, but how?' _

He needed her; she may have thought that their relationship was a sham but he knew it was real. He loved her and couldn't let her forget that she loved him too.

They had been happy even after she'd moved to Balamb. Things just changed, suddenly she wasn't emailing him anymore and when she did it was very short and very brief. She barely rang and txting seemed to have become a thing of the past.

'_All because of him,'_

It was all Lucas could blame it on, it wasn't her choice, she'd been sucked in by them. Her natural charm would've seen to it that she had a lot of friends but she'd been dragged into the wrong one.

He needed her to go back to how she was, he needed her to come back to Deling… he needed her.

'_I'll have you, Rinoa. I'll save you.' _

_

* * *

_

_I don't know why I can't just end this fucking story! Every time I go to write some sort of lead up to a conclusion I decide that I've got way more to write! This will end at some point I promise its just ganna take awhile. _

_I've finally figured out what I'm doing with the ruins portion of the story though and the Lucas side of things is starting to come together in my head as well. _


	22. Chapter twenty two

**The Delinquent**

I am not the owner of final fantasy 8 or anything else mentioned in this story with copyright on it. Y'know I'm really sick of writing this so I'm not going to anymore, lets just not and say I did!

Lucas sat pensively in his hotel sweet, his mind a flurry with thoughts and ideas. He needed to help Rinoa, she was being dragged into this world that she was suited for. He couldn't let her go; she was too much to him.

He glanced over at Marcia who lay on her bed watching TV. She'd become quite reclusive since the fall out with Rinoa. Rinoa was her best friend and she'd lost her. Lucas didn't understand why Marcia didn't just go see Rinoa, it wasn't as if Marcia had done anything wrong but neither had he! All he'd done was love her and apparently that was a bad thing.

"I can't take this." Lucas stated calmly.

Marcia didn't reply, she just idly continued flipping through the various channels.

"Did you hear me?"

"I heard you, Lucas. You're going to have to get over it." Marcia declared.

"I won't!" Lucas shouted. "She doesn't understand!"

Marcia rolled her eyes; this had been their argument for the past week. They'd talked about it so much that Marcia was beginning to think that Lucas was losing it.

"Well then make her!" Marcia exclaimed.

Lucas thought the words over; he knew that she wouldn't listen to him if he tried to talk again. He was too passionate about it and her nonchalance about the whole thing made him angry.

A small smile began to trace his lips, he had a plan.

* * *

Rinoa opened the door to Squall's house, loving the relaxed atmosphere that his house had. It was a completely different environment at Squall's house.

"Morning, Rin." Laguna said cheerfully from the kitchen.

Today was Sunday and as per usual she'd made her way over to Squall's house to watch cartoons in there pyjama's. It was the ritual and she wasn't going to break tradition.

Squall's family had become quite accustomed to it, every Sunday at about eight o clock Rinoa would turn up.

Today's P.j's consisted of a pair of cream boxer shorts and a white sleeveless t-shirt. She wasn't uncomfortable wearing so little in front of any of the Loire residence; they were more than used to it. Rinoa was sure that women wearing much sluttier attire had exited from Squall's bedroom. His conquests were legendary after all.

"Good Morning, Laguna, how was your Saturday night?" Rinoa enquired as she tip toed on the cold kitchen tiles.

"Not half as exciting as it used to be…" Laguna said wistfully.

Rinoa chuckled and excused herself, making her way quietly up the stairs. Squall was never awake when she turned up, only if he'd been woken up already by Laguna but by the looks of it that hadn't happened yet.

The door creaked loudly and Rinoa winced, the sound was a lot noisier when you were trying to be quiet.

Rinoa shivered when she entered the room, Squall always left his bedroom window open during the night. The whole house was toasty warm except for his one room.

She sneaked towards his bed, giggling to herself as his warped position. One arm was behind his head while the other spread across his double bed. His blankets were down by his waist, giving Rinoa ample view of his beautifully sculptured body. She remembered Lucas's words about Squall being "pasty" and smirked. He was sooooo not pasty, a little pale maybe but not as far as pasty.

She creeped under the covers and stared at his face, waiting for his otherworldly senses to kick in and realise that someone was watching him.

Lucky for Rinoa, Squall didn't have a protective pet like she did.

His eyes slowly opened and he blinked a few times before he realised it was Rinoa in his bed. He loved waking up to her.

"Hey." He said groggily.

"Morning," Rinoa whispered back.

"What time is it?" Squall enquired.

"'Bout eight."

"Go back to sleep." Squall moaned.

He buried his head under one of his many pillows, wrapping an arm around Rinoa as he did so. Neither of them was really sure if he'd done it on purpose or not but the affection wasn't something that either was going to complain about.

"C'mon dickhead! We've got cartoons to watch!" Rinoa declared.

Squall groaned, quite content to just go back to sleep with Rinoa in his arms, it felt so… right.

Rinoa bounced out of bed and switched his television on then quickly dived back in. It was much nicer to have Squall's body heat to keep her warm.

"Why do you do this to me?" Squall asked, fluffing up his pillow as he did so.

"Oh you love it!" Rinoa exclaimed.

Rinoa perked a couple of pillows herself; giving herself a little bit of leverage so she could see the TV better. Currently occupying the screen was Teen Titans, one of Rinoa's personal favourites.

She wouldn't consider herself a cartoon freak it was just that after weeks and weeks of the same ritual over and over again after awhile you do choose favourites.

She groaned, as per usual it was a repeat. She'd only seen the show about five fucking times and they still managed to put a repeat on. Surely little kids were more perceptive than this?

"Another fucking repeat." Squall moaned.

"How do you manage to be so hostile in the morning?" Rinoa enquired.

"How do you manage to be so positive?" Squall retorted.

Rinoa hated people doing that, answering a question with a question. Lucas did it all the time and it reminded her of him. She didn't want Squall to remind her of Lucas in any way shape or form. They were completely different people.

Rinoa shrugged, not wanting to answer his question anyway. It wasn't like he answered hers.

Squall didn't seem to be looking for an answer anyway; he was too wrapped up in the television. It was surprising how intrigued he got by it, admittedly he could only really concentrate on one thing at a time.

Rinoa was actually shocked that he hadn't mentioned Lucas yet; she had expected him to give her the twenty questions about the whole thing.

Just when Rinoa thought she was out of the woods about the whole thing Squall popped the big question. No not that question!

"So what'd Lucas want?" Squall asked offhandedly.

Rinoa winced; she really didn't want to discuss this with all people Squall. She had to tread very lightly on this subject; the wrong comment could turn it into an argument.

"Just to talk…"

"About…"

"Us, well me and him." Rinoa replied casually.

"To which you replied…"

"That there was no me and him." Rinoa stated.

Squall grinned, more than satisfied with the answer. He was glad that she hadn't decided to take him back, if she had then that would be the end of any chances they had. Not that he was admitting there was anything going on between them.

"It was strange, the whole time he was talking… I couldn't stop thinking… thinking about you."

Squall's eyes widened and he kept his mouth firmly shut. He didn't really know what to say. With any other chick he might've said something suave but this wasn't just some chick… this was Rinoa.

"I dunno; it's stupid. Just forget it."

"Do you really think that? Wanna forget I mean." Squall burst out.

Rinoa paused; she didn't want to forget it. The words had came out of her mouth before she had time to think about them and now that they were out in the open she knew that neither she nor he could really just overlook the fact that she said it.

She shook her head, not really sure if she wanted to say anything again. Who knows where her words might take her if she did.

Squall stared hard at the wall; he didn't want to look at her. If he did then it would ruin everything. He loved the bond he already had with Rinoa and any kind of relationship might spoil that.

There was no other way either, he couldn't just have a one-nighter with her. That was just asking for a complete and utter split within his group. He knew that Seifer and Irvine would take his side, possibly even Zell but it was more than obvious that Quistis and Selphie would hate him for it.

He felt something cold touch the side of his face and turned to see Rinoa smiling at him angelically. He couldn't take it anymore; he couldn't deny to himself anymore what he knew that he felt. He couldn't call it love, he didn't know what that felt like so how was he to know when he as in it?

"Rinoa I-"

He was silence when her face started to approach his own. He wouldn't admit it to anyone on earth, not even her, but he felt butterflies in his stomach. He knew what was coming; she was going to kiss him. He wasn't stopping her either.

There faces, inches from each other. Rinoa could feel his warm breath on her lips and was aching to just close the gap. She wasn't really one for making the first move but in this instance she knew that it had to be done.

Then in a moment that could only be described as pure ecstasy the space was filled. Filled with an exquisite kiss that Rinoa had waited for from the first day she'd set eyes upon him.

All the awkward moments and lingering glances had led up to this moment. All there fights and there fun, all there tears and there laughs all culminated together to create this perfect kiss.

Rinoa felt Squall's hand on her thigh and she wrapped her arms around his neck, one hand streaking through his hair while the other lay dormant on his shoulders. Just when things were beginning to get interesting Rinoa heard the familiar creak of Squall's door.

She pushed Squall off her violently but it was too late.

Squall groaned loudly when he heard his father giggle. Of all the people that could've walked in at that moment he would've been the worst.

"Is this a bad time?" Laguna chuckled.

Rinoa felt absolutely mortified, they'd been snapped out sharing spit by Squall's father. He may not have been like most fathers but at the end of the day he still was.

Squall just glared at Laguna, watching him laughing to himself as he set down the two bowls of cereal on his bedside table. Squall had forgotten all about Laguna's ritual of bringing up their breakfast. If he had remembered he might've talked to her for a bit longer, maybe left the serious conversations till after he'd come up. It couldn't be changed now though could it?

"I'll just leave you kids to it." Laguna joked as he closed the door.

Squall looked over at Rinoa, who took one look at his face and burst out laughing. He soon found himself sniggering, not something that he would usually do when snapped out making out with some girl in his bed. But this wasn't just some girl to him, it was Rinoa.

**

* * *

Bout an hour later**

Rinoa strolled over to her home, a dull smile on her lips. It was made even better by the fact that Caraway wasn't home.

"Could this day get any better?" Rinoa said aloud.

She was floating on cloud 9 and nothing could ruin this feeling.

"Angelo!" She called out.

She'd forgotten to feed her dog this morning so now was the opportune time.

Surprisingly he didn't come to her call. Angelo was one of the most obedient and protective animals Rinoa had ever known and for him to not come when she called him meant something was wrong.

"Angelo…" she called again.

She glanced out the kitchen window and sighed loudly when she saw Angelo tied up in the backyard. Caraway must've taken him outside when he left.

She reached into the fridge and pulled out Angelo's dog roll. Before she had time to cut the desired amount she heard a voice behind her.

"Hello my love." Lucas whispered.

_This chapters shorter than you may have become accustomed to but I didn't really want to continue from there. _

_I was going to wait at least another day before putting this one up but if I don't do it now then I'll forget. _

_I though this chapter was pretty weak really, I wanted the long awaited kiss to be a little more dramatic but fuck it. Originally I was going to kill the dog as well but I love dogs way too much for that. _

_Well I'm off, what'd ya think?_


	23. Chapter twenty three

**The Delinquent**

It was hard for Rinoa to believe that one day could start so good and just turn to shit so quickly. With those three little words her entire day had been ruined. She wasn't worried though, she truly believed that Lucas would never hurt her.

"What the fuck are you doing here Lucas?" Rinoa said flatly.

"You have to understand Rinoa. This isn't as simple as you keep trying to make it out to be." Lucas stated.

Rinoa leaned against the counter, not really understanding what he was talking about in the first place. What was there to understand? They had broken up and that's all there was to it. He was going to go back to Deling, slut around for a bit and then settle down again. She on the other hand had every intention of living out the rest of her days with her handsome neighbour.

"Lucas, please don't do this again." Rinoa sighed.

"I'm sorry…" Lucas muttered.

Rinoa looked at him curiously, wondering why he was apologising. She supposed it was for barging in and demanding her to 'understand'. That was before she noticed the bat in his hand.

"What are you doing Lucas?" Rinoa whispered.

She clenched the knife tighter in her hand, having every intention of defending herself should he attack her. Now things were getting scary. Thoughts like _I should've stayed at Squall's, he wanted me to for fucks sake! Oh no, I have to come home to feed my fucking dog, _raced through her head. She glanced at her nearest exit, wondering whether it'd be better to make a run for it.

"This is for your own good, you'll understand. I promise."

Lucas raised his bat and ran to Rinoa. She gasped; readying herself to scream but before a single sound could escape her lips she felt the thwack for the bat against her skull. It was hard to explain what it felt like. She heard a loud smacking sound in her ears and the pain was instantaneously more dreadful than any physical pain she'd felt before.

But she didn't have to endure it for long, for immediately followed after was darkness.

* * *

Rinoa cracked her eyes open and attempted to reach up to rub her burning head but found them to be bound. She started panicking and tried desperately to free them but to no avail.

She lifted her head up and found Lucas smiling at her as scenery whizzed by.

"Did you sleep well, babe?" Lucas asked quietly.

"You're fucking mental Lucas! Let me out of this car right now!" Rinoa exclaimed.

Lucas shook his head and indicated to pull over. It was then Rinoa noticed their isolated environment. He'd obviously been driving for awhile out of Balamb but Rinoa still noticed some of the surroundings, she knew she'd been here before.

"I didn't want to have to do this." Lucas snarled.

He pulled out some silver electrical tape and pulled at the tape violently.

"Lucas please no!" Rinoa begged.

She thrashed her body away from his outstretched hands but he still managed to get the tape over her mouth.

Rinoa felt tears at the back of her eyes, ready to pour down her face. She tried in vain to stop the flow of water but as is usually the case, the tears ran freely.

She closed her eyes, not quite believing that this was happening to her. This didn't actually happen to people! And even if it did, did she really expect it to happen to her?

It would make an interesting news story. She could actually picture her headline… Girl Tragically Killed by Ex-Boyfriend… it did have a ring to it.

"Oh no, shhhh. Don't cry Rinoa." Lucas shushed. "This is a good thing…"

* * *

Ellone lay on the couch, anxiously waiting for Squall to get up. She'd heard all about what Laguna had seen when he came bouncing into her room. The memory obviously still fresh in his mind.

Laguna had been at the forefront of getting Squall and Rinoa together, he hadn't said anything verbally but he ranted about it all the time.

Luckily for Squall Laguna had to leave soon after he had witnessed the event so he couldn't torment him with it.

She grinned widely when she heard the sound of Squall squeaking down the stairs. Ellone grabbed the remote and switched the television off, not wanting to be burdened with it while she talked to Squall and so that he couldn't change the subject onto whatever was on.

She heard him yawn behind her and smiled even wider, she was too excited about giving him shit.

"Morning," Squall muttered, making his way slowly to the kitchen.

Ellone dived out of her seat and raced to the kitchen, gasping a little when she felt the cold tiles against her bare feet.

"Sooooo…" Ellone began.

"Fuck up." Squall interjected flatly.

"Oh yeah Squall like your ganna get away with this!" Ellone laughed.

Squall rolled his eyes while reaching into the cupboard for some cereal. He grabbed the milk and sugar before settling himself down at the breakfast counter. He began mentally readying himself for what was to come.

"I can't believe you two finally got together…" Ellone continued.

Squall suppressed the urge to smile; it was as if she was mirroring what Selphie and Quistis were going to say. Plus he couldn't quite believe it either. It had happened so quickly he didn't really have time to let it register in his brain.

Rinoa had stayed for about another hour… not a lot of cartoon watching took place.

"… You wait until Raine finds out! She is going to love it! Oh my Hyne please let me tell her!"

Squall shrugged, not really wanting to be the one to endure the painful conversation anyway.

She would no doubt start with how sweet it was, then it'd turn into a lecture about having safe sex and not impregnating anyone. He'd heard it many times.

"So how did it happen?" Ellone enquired.

Squall grimaced; he wasn't really one for in depth details about his love life. What happened in Squall's bedroom usually stayed in Squall's bedroom.

"She dived on me like a wild animal." Squall lied.

Now it was Ellone's turn to roll her eyes. He'd said the same thing about his argument with her on the beach.

"C'mon Squall, if you can't talk to me who can you talk to?" Ellone whined.

Squall shook his head and shovelled some of his beloved cereal in his mouth. There wasn't really too much point in withholding his side of things; Rinoa was no doubt going to tell the entire world within a matter of seconds. He was just waiting for the phone to ring and the fact that it hadn't yet was quite worrying.

Usually he could read his friends like clockwork, unless she'd rung Selphie or someone like that, then she'd be held up by explaining every small, minuscule detail.

"Doesn't matter, I'll just go ask Rinoa." Ellone shrugged.

"No you won't. You'll wait until someone tells you like you always do." Squall replied.

Ellone turned quickly and exited the room. Squall started chuckling to himself before he heard the front door open and close.

'_She's not actually going to.'_

Squall dived out of his chair and raced to the sun room's window. He watched as his 'sis' Ellone walked confidently over to the Caraway residence. He had not expected her to actually do it! Ellone was full of empty threats that she never carried out. That was the big difference between Ellone and Squall, if Squall said he was going to do something, he was doing it.

He didn't look away for a second as Ellone pushed down on the doorbell. She waited there for a couple of seconds, tapping her foot against the wooden balcony.

Squall tilted his head to the side in deep thought. She hadn't left that long ago, it had only been about an hour and a half ago. Nobody would be up at 10:30 in the morning, especially not on a Sunday.

Ellone pushed the doorbell again, rapping hard on the door with her fist while she did so. Squall never realised she was so impatient before.

She waited for a little while longer before making her way back over to her own residence. Squall was glad that Rinoa hadn't answered the door though; if she had it could've been a little bit embarrassing for him. He wasn't looking forward to the amount of shit he was going to get about this.

Mostly from his family but when he was home he liked to relax.

Squall had a satisfied smirk upon his face as she entered the house, his cockiness getting the better of him as he enjoyed one small victory over her.

"Shut your face." Ellone burst out before Squall had a chance to say anything.

Squall lifted up his arms in defence, not intending on saying anything at all. What was the point? It was obvious who had come out the champion of that battle.

"It still doesn't change anything; I will know the story in the end." Ellone declared.

She left it at that and exited the room, going off to do Hyne knows what, Hyne knows where.

* * *

Rinoa found herself, finally, in a setting she didn't recognise. She could just see the ruins in the distance before Lucas turned into a forest and it was hidden from sight.

She still couldn't talk, her mouth being covered with tape and moving was restricted by rope tied around her wrists and ankles.

She hadn't known fear until this day, everything that she had been through in her entire life had been nothing compared to this.

Her mother's death had at least been somewhat kind in the fact that she had known it was coming; this was a different kind of fear though. She couldn't even compare the two.

She started moaning again, trying to convince Lucas with her terror to let her go.

"Please don't do this again Rinoa; I want to show you something." Lucas sighed.

Rinoa clenched her eyes closed; she didn't know what to do. All she wanted was to back at Squall's again, back when things were perfect for her.

It had happened only hours ago but now it seemed like it was a far-away memory. It was another great example of how quickly your day could turn to shit.

She heard a loud, shrill, beeping sound coming from Lucas and thanked Hyne. It was his cellphone, if she was loud enough then someone might save her.

He snapped his phone open, pulling out the aerial with his teeth. He glanced quickly at Rinoa before putting it up to his ear.

"Hello?"

Rinoa took her chance and started thrashing around, making as much noise as possible.

"Yeah hold on a sec Marcia." Lucas growled.

He glared at Rinoa, covering the mouth piece with his hand.

"If you don't stop that right now then you won't see anything ever again!"

Rinoa obeyed, not wanting to make him any angrier. She never seen him like this, she'd never seen ANYONE like this! He'd lost it, completely. This was one of those situations that you see on the news and thank sweet merciful Hyne for not giving you psycho boyfriends like that!

"Yeah she's with me." Lucas said as he got back on the cellphone.

Rinoa's heart sank, Marcia, it appeared, knew all about this. How could she do this to her? She was supposed to be her friend! True they weren't exactly as close as before but they'd known each other too long to do something as callous as this.

"Of course she wants to be here!" Lucas screamed.

He threw the phone out the window forcefully and smacked his hand on the steering wheel about five times.

He came to a screeching halt, jolting Rinoa's body forward. She slammed into the dashboard hard and cried out in pain. It would've been nice of him to warn her, or put her seatbelt on when she got in the car.

"Sorry about that babe, I didn't realise that we were here." Lucas said apologetically.

He raced out of the car, opened Rinoa's door and tenderly carried her out.

He sat her down gently on a nearby rock. If it wasn't for the situation she was in she would've taken in the beautiful scenery that surrounded them.

It was a small clearing in between the middle of the forest; grass covered the ground, along with twigs and various branches. The breathtaking party of it was the picturesque pink flowers that were covering the clearing. When the wind picked up the petals would ride the breeze, making the place all the more amazing.

It was the kind of place that would usually only provoke good memories but Lucas had ruined this place for her. How could she enjoy the majestic splendour of it now?

"Lucas, it's not too late…" Rinoa began.

She didn't want to take the panicky tactic that had been portrayed before. It hadn't exactly got her anywhere.

"Yes Rinoa! You're completely right!" Lucas said excitedly.

He sat down beside her, resting his head on her lap and looking up at her face. A small smile traced his lips and he softly touched the side of her face.

"That's why I brought you here. I needed you to come to your senses. You may think that we were together for everyone else's convenience but you're wrong. I love you."

* * *

Squall sat in the busy café, devouring his hamburger gluttonously. He had Selphie sitting beside him and Zell in front of him. They had been the only ones willing to come down to the café with him.

All the others had either still been in bed, too busy or simply not home.

"Sooooo… what did you do last night?" Selphie enquired her mouth still full with chicken nuggets.

Zell had a huge grin on his face, obviously proud of some personal conquest that had taken place. Women just seemed to gravitate to him. It could've been the toned body with full locks of blond hair and rebellious tattoo running down the side of his face any of these things would warrant female attention.

At first he'd been pretty shy about it; he wasn't used to _that_ kind of attention. He's spent most of his childhood being a bit of a skinny cry-baby but something happened that made him start going to gyms and such. He bulked out and suddenly became a hottie.

Zell took a breath, about to begin his no doubt long story about his night.

"Well, 'bout nine I get a call from that guy Zidane from PE. He tells me about this party going on down by the docks. So I decided to go down and take a look. There were chicks fucking everywhere." Zell began.

Squall rolled his eyes as he took a large bite out of his partially eaten hamburger. He'd heard this story a million times, Zidane was a bad influence… it was actually a little humorous to even think of anyone else being a bad influence on one of his friends!

"And there was this one who was just loving me so I took her out the back…"

"Zell Hyne! We don't need to know! Seriously!" Selphie exclaimed.

"Well you asked 'What I **did** last night'." Zell retorted.

"Why don't you ask Squall what he **did **this morning?" Quistis said as she took a seat in the booth.

Squall's eyes widened, he hadn't expected this turn of events. He was hoping to have at least one more day of everyone being clueless to what had happened.

His head began to scheme up something that he could say when the inevitable question was asked. Squall looked around in fear for Seifer's smirking face but found that he wasn't here, thank sweet merciful Hyne.

He glanced quickly at Selphie, whose face could only be compared to a five year old on Christmas day.

"You hooked up with Rinny!" Selphie squealed.

Squall was glad that she was actually right; it would've been actually more embarrassing if she was wrong because then Rinoa would more than likely be with them and things would become awkward for at least half an hour.

"Ding ding ding!" Quistis laughed.

Squall didn't quite know what to say, it was an uncomfortable situation to be in for him. Everyone was staring at him like he'd just won the lottery and he didn't really know what to say.

In the end there was no real point in denying it, it wasn't like they didn't already know.

"How the fuck did you find out?" Squall growled.

"I've just been at your house talking to Ellone. She told me that I needed to give her all the details." Quistis grinned.

Ellone had obviously jumped to conclusions that Quistis had talked to Rinoa, it was quite surprising that she hadn't already.

"When did this happen?" Selphie exclaimed.

"At about eight I heard. Is that right Squall?" Quistis chuckled.

She couldn't get the grin off her face, she didn't want to make Squall feel anxious but she couldn't help herself. These sorts of things happened once in a blue moon and it wasn't like he didn't put his two cents in when she hooked up with Seifer.

"How did I not know? Why didn't she tell me?" Selphie whined.

* * *

"You can't keep me here Lucas." Rinoa said gently.

"I know. You're going to come back to Deling with me." Lucas said back lovingly.

Now there was a prospect that seemed too awful to even contemplate. If she could help it she would never go back there again, she was ashamed of the life she'd lived there.

Coming to Balamb was the best thing that had ever happened to her, she couldn't imagine going back to her old life. After everything she'd been through she'd never be the same person again.

"You can't do this Lucas. This isn't supposed to happen." Rinoa burst out.

Lucas sighed, apparently quite annoyed that she just didn't understand. He thought he had made it quite clear exactly what was going to happen. She would come to appreciate it.

"You're wrong Rinoa." Lucas moaned. "This is supposed to happen. I realized something. This is just another test in our relationship. I'm willing to forgive you for your little fling with your new buddies but its time to get serious now."

Once again fresh tears began to well up. She'd tried since they'd stopped to not cry but it was hard. This situation was more than a little distressing.

All she wanted was to be safe again; she had realized just how safe she was in her little town, down her little street, in her little house, with Squall always by her side.

She knew though, if anyone was going to save her it was going to be him. He protected her, he had since the day they'd first met. Whether it be just showing her where her class was or rescuing her from a police ridden brawl, he was always there, and now that he wasn't she felt more alone than she ever had in her entire life.

_

* * *

Done. Mostly everyone pretty much guessed what was going to happen, Rinoa was ganna get kidnapped. Another unexpected turn for me though, she wasn't going to originally but fuck it, I thought I'd drag it out._

_Hope it isn't getting a bit too drawn out though, what do you think?_


	24. Chapter twenty four

**The Delinquent**

_Anyone who really likes Rinoa might not like this chapter. It's not like incredibly graphic or anything, you just may not like it._

Rinoa pulled vigorously at the rope that bound her hands. Lucas had left abruptly when he decided Rinoa was cold. She was of course still only clad in her boxers and t-shirt.

She heard something crackle in the trees that surrounded her and found Lucas coming back towards her.

His eyes were forever set upon her when he was near her. He never looked away for a second. There was a glimpse of desperation locked behind his oceanic blue eyes.

Lucas carried in his arms wood, odd branches that weren't too big or too pathetic.

"Lucas you can't keep me here." Rinoa cried.

Lucas shook his head and set the wood down about a foot away from her.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a Zippo, obviously believing that he might be able to start something.

"How else am I going to keep you warm?" Lucas shouted manically.

Rinoa looked down at her feet, not wishing to stare at his agonized face any longer. His eyes were brimming with tears that wouldn't fall; she'd never seen him cry, not really.

He seemed to have an idea at that point and ran back to his car. He opened the boot and pulled out a bright yellow puff jacket. Something that Rinoa might've thought was cool before, seeing it now made her sick. She couldn't believe that she would get involved with such a freak!

"Take me home, now!" Rinoa said firmly.

"JUST SHUT UP!" Lucas screamed.

He held his head in his hands and rocked himself for a couple of seconds, trying as hard as he could to calm himself down. He didn't know what he was doing, this wasn't something that he should be doing and he knew that. He knew all about the consequences of what he was doing, he knew that people were going to notice she was missing but he needed to try. He couldn't give her up, she was everything to him.

Everything she had said about it being a façade and it not meaning anything was a lie and he knew it. It couldn't be true; it was too terrible to even try to contemplate.

* * *

"So where's your g-i-r-l-friend?" Selphie sang.

"Shut your face." Squall snapped.

"Don't take it personal or nothing Squall; its just that… you'd wanna suck face again wouldn't you?" Zell laughed.

Squall grimaced, wishing that this nightmare would end. He still hadn't seen the worst two either. Irvine would be an absolute shit-head about it, asking every personal question that he could think if.

If he was really interested he might even give Squall some hints on how to really 'reel her in'. Then there was Seifer… that was going to be painful. He would get great pleasure in not actually saying anything at first, until everyone was there and he could make a dick out of Squall.

"Leave him alone, your putting him off her." Quistis interrupted.

Squall found himself thanking Hyne for the first time today that Quistis was in his presence. So far since she'd shown up she'd been a right royal pain in the ass since she'd gotten there.

"Quisty's right." Selphie began, actually doing a pretty good job of keeping a straight face. "Its about time Squall got some anyway."

"That's just speculation! We don't know yet." Quistis replied.

"Not until we talk to Rinoa anyway, Squall's not letting out any details." Selphie muttered.

"My sex life is none of your business!" Squall exclaimed.

Selphie scoffed and rolled her eyes. Of course it was her business. She'd never withheld any information about her and Irvine, admittedly half the time nobody wanted to know but she still told them.

"Can we just change the fucking subject?" Squall moaned.

"On that bright and happy note, I'm going home." Zell said.

Every bid him his goodbyes and whatnot before he was seen zooming off, strangely in a direction opposite from his home.

"I think Zell's got a bit on the side happening." Selphie whispered.

It was anyone's guess why she whispered, nobody in this town really cared what any of them were doing in their personal lives. As it had been put on numerous occasions, they were a stain on the community.

"Of course he is." Quistis stated. "We wont officially find out who for another couple of weeks though, you know how he is about these things."

"I reckon its one of the cheerleaders; he's being surprisingly quiet about the whole thing." Squall supposed.

It was more surprising that Squall was actually taking an interest in the matter; usually he reserved his feeling on subjects until it was absolutely necessary for them to become known.

He was just glad that they were talking about someone else. Small town gossip was always rampant in Balamb though.

"Wouldn't that be trippy, imagine if they went out. Where would that put us?" Selphie enquired.

"I spose we'd become Zell's peer pressuring friends. Something like that would give him instant popularity and he'd be exempt from any actions he may partake in." Quistis explained.

Squall sighed in relief, this was going to turn into a debate which would no doubt last for more than half an hour, leaving him time to enjoy what little time he had until the real shit started.

The ever approaching certainty of seeing either of the terrible-two was becoming more and more foreboding. It was inevitable that he would at some point during the day see them as well.

* * *

Rinoa could only wish that that was all she had to worry about. This situation was spinning worse out of her control with every passing second. With every minute that went by Lucas became more frantic and distressed.

She couldn't even talk to him now without him flipping out, it was obvious that he knew what he was doing was wrong but somehow he still maintained the notion that if he just convinced her to come back to him it would all be ok.

She had no idea how long she'd been out there but didn't think it had been too long. She couldn't trust her concept of time anyway, minutes were passing like hours.

"Are you ready to talk like adults?" Lucas said flatly.

Rinoa stared at him incredulously, she was trying to treat the circumstances with as much maturity as she could but it was hard to be strong. She was losing her hope in the fact that he would physically hurt her, if he could do this then he could do anything.

Rinoa nodded nonetheless though, she didn't want to worsen the situation. She'd been trying to keep him calm but his touch disgusted her, she hated his hands upon any part of her and he kept trying to keep some sort of contact with her at all times.

"Good. I was just thinking the only way this is going to work is if you come to Deling with me. You can't stay here with those freaks. They've warped you Rinoa, your not the same person anymore, it's like I don't even know you."

"Well you'll excuse me if I say the same about you." Rinoa replied.

"SEE!" Lucas yelled. "If you're not going to listen to me with an open heart then there's no point in even being here."

"Then take me home." Rinoa stated.

Lucas sighed; he rubbed his temple trying to make his brain work. Thoughts and different idea's kept racing through his mind but he still had many plans to go and then there was the finale. The one thing that he knew would make Rinoa stay with him forever.

"I wish that we could just put all this behind us and start fresh…" Lucas trailed off. "Like when we first got together and everything was perfect. Everything's just all fucked up."

"The only thing fucked up here is you!" Rinoa burst out.

Lucas balled his left fist in his hand and with the other backhanded Rinoa across the face. She fell off her rock and smashed her head onto another with enough force to gash her forehead.

"See what you made me do!" Lucas exclaimed.

Rinoa finally understood the seriousness of the situation; if someone didn't save her then she wasn't going to get out of this. This was going to turn ugly and soon. Before she'd been scared but now she was terrified. She couldn't even help herself up.

She let out a whimper but tried with all her might to suppress it.

Lucas sat her down beside the rock she'd been perched up, her back leaning against it and her legs outstretched in front of her.

"Now if I undo your hands do you promise to behave?" Lucas asked gravely.

"Fuck you!" Rinoa screamed.

She spat in his face and noticed the blood in it, he'd obviously split her lip or something when he hit her.

He wiped the spit from his face angrily and slapped her, sending her body over again. This time she didn't sustain any injury from the tumble, she wasn't as high this time.

He sat her up once again, asking her the same question once again but a more nonchalantly than last.

Rinoa nodded, not wanting to continue receiving anymore of his fury and not wanting to have her hands bound any longer.

He looked in her eyes a little while longer, not liking what he was seeing but not considering any other way. Her eyes were full of panic and were puffy and red from permanent crying. Every tear that fell was like a dagger ripping through his heart but it was too late now, it was too late to stop.

He knelt down behind her and began slowly untying the rope, watching her body for any signs of resistance. Once they were free Rinoa began rubbing her wrists from where it had been tied. They were red and slightly bloody from being far too tight and her constant attempts to get them free.

Lucas made his way down to her feet and sat down beside them for a while. He wasn't sure if he should untie the feet, she could make an attempt at running if he did.

His ego then got the better of him; he was a star football player. As fast as she could run he'd be able to run faster.

Rinoa bit her bottom lip as he tore his eyes away from her and began sorting out the knot at her ankles. She managed a grin when they were undone and took her chance.

She kicked Lucas in the head with all her strength and scrambled up as fast as she could. She didn't wait around to see if he was chasing her, she just began running. Adrenaline was pumping through her system and if there was ever a moment when she was proud of her bolting ability it was now.

Lucas fell back with the force of the kick; he moaned and held his bleeding nose. He saw her running and forgot the pain. He took off after her, reaching out for that extra percent of stamina.

Lucas was soon right behind her and Rinoa could hear his heavy footfalls mere inches away from her own. He dived out and tackled her to the ground, overpowering her easily.

"Where were you going to go? Huh?" Lucas shouted in her face.

Rinoa closed her eyes tightly together and began crying distraughtly.

"Please… just let me go." Rinoa sobbed.

Lucas looked down at her crumbled figure, wanting to just make her all better again. He needed her to understand and needed her to see how much he loved her.

He touched the side of her face lightly and relished in the fact that she was too herself to flint away from his touch.

He arched downwards and kissed her passionately on the lips, hoping that if his words couldn't make her recognize than his actions might.

Lucas smiled when he felt her open her own mouth, inviting in his tongue that was already pushing its way in there. He enjoyed his moment of bliss, sending his hands south to inch up her thighs.

Suddenly his eyes widened and he screamed in pain as Rinoa bit down as hard as she could on his tongue. He tried to pull his mouth away but her teeth were clamped shut. He could see blood start to drip onto her face and a determined look in her eyes told him that she wasn't going to be letting go anytime soon.

He hooked his hands under her rips, sending a scream out of Rinoa's mouth this time. He quickly stood and took a couple of steps back while Rinoa's winded form gasped for breath.

Without a word he reached down and picked up a fist sized rock that lay dormant beside her. He raised it above his head, readying himself to plant it into her face.

"No! Please Lucas NO!" Rinoa shrieked.

She held her hands in front of her face defensively but to no avail. The rock smashed into the side of her face only with enough force to knock her out.

As her world began to turn black she watched Lucas retreat back to his car and open the boot. She only say him pull something white out of his trunk before her entire world faded into darkness.

* * *

"You wait till I see that bitch!" Seifer laughed.

Quistis had just finished informing him on the day's gossip, not holding back any details that she had found out.

"Ring Rinoa and find out what happened." Seifer continued, handing her the phone.

She dialled the number expertly, not even looking at the numbers as she did so.

When she heard Caraway pick up she excitedly asked for Rinoa. She'd been trying to get hold of her for awhile and finally someone was home.

"No, I haven't seen her all day." Caraway said abruptly and hung up.

He never bothered saying goodbye; he didn't get along with many of Rinoa's friends. Mainly because of his lack of anything nice to say about them and the fact that he never really bother to get to know any of them.

"Where the fuck is she?" Quistis exclaimed.

"Chill out, she's probably with Squall."

"I just seen him before at the café, he hasn't seen her since this morning." Quistis replied.

Seifer rolled his eyes; he could see what was coming. Quistis was going to go on some stupid mad goose chase that would end in nothing. Rinoa would probably be in the most obvious place and somehow he'd be dragged into it.

"I'll txt her, Rin got money on her phone the other day didn't she?"

Seifer shrugged, like he cared. He didn't exactly go on a txting frenzy with her.

"Just drop it babe." Seifer griped. "You're being paranoid."

"I spose… but it's a bit suspicious, if she's not with anyone then where the hell else will she be?"

* * *

Rinoa groaned as she cracked her coffee brown eyes open, reaching up to rub her aching head. She could feel a rather large lump behind her ear and retracted her hand only see little specks of blood on her fingers.

It was then that she noticed the absurd outfit that she was dressed in. It was a sleeveless pale white dress. Down either side of the dress from under the arms to the hips was sort of shoe laced up with golden cord, crunching up the middle a little. From her hips down it silhouetted down her body, flaring out a tiny bit at the bottom.

On her feet she could see white stiletto high-heels; she found small hope in that fact. They'd hurt like fuck if she stamped them down on him.

She felt on her head a tiny tiara that she took out immediately after noticing it. It was gold with little white pearls decorated on it.

"You look so beautiful." Lucas said from behind her.

She turned to see him smiling down on her, still wearing the previous jeans and t-shirt combo that she'd remembered him in from before.

'_This is a wedding dress…' _Rinoa thought instantly.

"More beautiful then I ever think I've seen you before." Lucas continued.

Rinoa thought there was a fat chance of that considering what he'd done to her face. She hadn't been able to see it yet but could only imagine how shitty she actually looked.

"What's going on?" Rinoa whispered.

"Today, I pledge my adoration for the person that I love. Now we can be together forever." Lucas beamed.

_In summary; Rinoa's disappearance hasn't seriously been noticed yet but some people are starting to get a bit curious. Squall's getting shit from anyone who can get a cheap shot it. Irvine wasn't even in this chapter. Quistis is starting to worry about Rinoa but Seifer keeps telling her not to be so stupid. Selphie's on the hunt for details about Squall and Rinoa's little "thing" and Zell's got a bit on the side. _


	25. Chapter twenty five

**The Delinquent**

_Poor ol' Lucas only wants his girlfriend back…_

Squall found himself in a familiar position. He lay on his bed, his hands behind his head staring at the ceiling. Confusion racked through his brain, he'd experienced with Rinoa something that he could only refer to with the word bliss and then hadn't heard from her for the rest of the day.

He'd expected her to come over at some point but it was getting on in the day now and he still hadn't seen her.

He usually wasn't one to gripe about something like that, it was actually usually a good thing. Most of his romances were better left as a one night stand; it was more uncomfortable when they did ring.

Every time he heard someone coming up the stairs he'd hope that it was Rinoa, so far he'd been disappointed.

He got off his bed and walked towards his window, opening his curtains for the first time that day, he could see Rinoa's house mere meters away. His vision turned off towards the ocean, something his house had a perfect view of.  
Dark clouds were looming towards Balamb; it was definitely an unexpected ending for such a brilliant day.

For the first time in about three hours his thoughts shifted to something other than Rinoa. Today was Sunday so that meant that tomorrow he had to go to school. He hadn't actually planned on going but with the day starting to end he began to think it might be his only chance to see Rinoa.

'_So much for not thinking about her,' _He thought cynically.

He heard his phone beep from his bed side table. Diving at breakneck speed he grabbed the phone and eagerly read the txt message. Once again disappointment surged through him, Seifer being his txt-er.

: got hold of sum firewrks. U cumin:

Squall felt his troubles melt away at the prospect of causing some sort of damage. His fingers went to work immediately; destruction was just the cure for such a mental bender.

After finding out that everyone was at Irvine's, he took off out the door, only stopping to momentarily lie to Raine about where he was going and why.

She wouldn't approve of what he was going off to do; she was the more conservative member of the family. It was easy to see that Raine had more of an influence on Ellone than she'd ever had on him. He'd taken more to his Laguna's "you only live once" philosophy.

**-------------------**

Squall felt a droplet of water lightly fall on his hand and grimaced. That meant he would have to put the top up on his car which was a pain in the ass. Originally it had had a button but that had soon been fucked so now it had to be done manually.

'_What the fuck do they expect to do with fireworks in this fucking weather?' _Squall complained to himself.

Nonetheless he was soon zooming down the road, not bothering to slow down with the bad weather settling itself in. The rain began to get so heavy that he had to turn his lights on. Balamb weather was always erratic; being so close to the ocean left them open pray for fucked up weather.

Squall pulled up at a rather rustic house, it had been built about sixty years ago so it went with the fashion of the time, much like many houses in the Balamb area. It was a pretty old town so most of the houses could be as old as a hundred years or more.

It didn't really have a front lawn; it just went from sidewalk to house. There was a backyard though, but even that wasn't something to brag about it. It was a two story home with Victorian looking white railing along the roof of the entrance area and a big rusty looking door bell.

The house itself was a light greeny colour but had been worn away quite severely over the years, the window frames were white and it had a big black pointy roof.

Squall had to park his car down the street a bit, everyone else's vehicles already taking up most of the closest parking.

He put the collar of his shirt up as he exited the car, not liking the feeling of the rain on the back of his neck one bit.

He rang the doorbell and breathed on his hands, trying to warm them up a little. It was times like this that he wished he'd thought of bringing a hoodie or something.

The door opened and Squall recognised the woman behind it as Irvine's mother.

She was quite tall; it was her side of the family that Irvine got his height. Her hair had nearly turned completely grey but there were parts that still remained her original colour of black. She had a pair of dark brown sweat pants on with a slightly baggy white t-shirt that had some sort of nasty gold design on the front of it.

She had a certain kind of young-ness to her that made her easy to talk to. Her face radiated a childlike curiosity to it that you never really saw on most old people. It was almost the same as his father but not in an annoying way.

She smiled cheerfully at him; she liked it when Irvine had friends over. She always tried to join the conversation and learn all the gossip.

"Come in Squall come in!" She said as she ushered him in.

Inside the house was one of the tackiest houses on the face of the earth. There was some sort of brightly coloured pottery for every occasion, place and shelf.

"I brought some new ornaments today." Irvine's mother said excitedly.

She reached up onto a particular shelf and pulled down a yellow, pottery, birds' house with two blue birds perched on top of it. It was only about the size of a fist and the paint on it wasn't exactly the most artistic work ever done.

"What's it for?" Squall enquired monotonously.

"You put your steelo in there."

Squall raised his eyebrows, not exactly knowing what the hell a steelo was. He couldn't actually say he'd heard the reference before but didn't want to get her into a drawn out lecture about every little tiny thing about it.

"Well isn't that clever." Squall replied sarcastically.

"I thought it was." She beamed as she placed it back in its location.

Squall took his chance to zip out of the room before she started on about something else. He darted up to Irvine's lounge, knowing that that's where they'd all be.

Irvine's mum had left his dad about two years ago and his mother liked the company.

"Finally," Seifer grumbled as he entered the room.

Squall flipped him the bird and sat down on the last available seat.

"So, what's this about fireworks?" Squall asked.

"I hope you kids aren't planning anything." Irvine's mother sang out from the kitchen.

Irvine rolled his eyes but didn't make any sort of reply to his mothers claim. She was more than used to it; as long as he didn't get caught she didn't really care.

It was then that Squall noticed both Rinoa AND Zell's absence. He didn't want to ask about either though, if he asked straight out about then both then he was leaving himself open and it was the same if he just asked for one of them.

His friends were like angry sharks, they'd take any opportunity to feed off someone's ridicule. Never publicly, unless it was someone that they didn't like, or who just happened to become a casualty of there antics.

"That was a lure, we're on the hunt." Irvine replied.

Squall mentally cringed, not liking the sound of that one bit. All he could think about was that Zell must be late and they were all going to barricade him with questions, accusations and lots and lots of shit.

"For what?" Squall enquired casually.

"Zell was spotted earlier today entering the Balamb hotel, why would he be going in there? And it's obviously a secret or he would've just paraded her up to his room like usual." Selphie said.

"So you're thinking of barging in and humiliating him." Squall finished.

"Not exactly…" Quistis chuckled.

**----------------------------------------**

Squall flipped absent-mindedly through the pages of some chick magazine. He threw it on the stack of magazines that he'd already looked at and grabbed another from the ample pile that sat beside him.

He felt something wet touch his collar bone and shrugged Selphie's sleeping form off his arm. She'd fallen asleep about fifteen minutes ago; they'd only been waiting about two hours.

"Why did I agree to come here?" Squall asked no one in particular.

No one answered either, everyone probably thinking exactly the same thing. After about the first hour it had become a little tedious.

The plan was to wait patiently until Zell exited his suit and came downstairs, which he eventually would have to, then they would bombard him with precisely the same thing Squall had thought he was going to get.

"This is so boring!" Irvine exclaimed.

"Well I thought the sighting of him would be enough to make some sort of allegation but apparently we absolutely must see this with our own eyes." Quistis sighed.

"Well your ideas weren't exactly making headlines Quistis my sweet," Seifer grinded mockingly.

The onslaught of a potential argument started to rise up, something that they didn't need to happen. Zell was crafty, craftier than a lot of other seventeen year olds. Squall knew that if Zell heard their voices downstairs then he'd shimmy his way out some other way.

"You guys, we have to be a little bit more low-key." Squall snapped.

All that followed was a few hmph's and the violent turning of magazine pages.

About ten minutes later there attention was triggered when they heard Zell's loud, obnoxious laugh bellow throughout the hotel.

He could be seen making his way down the stairwell, waving goodbye to some mystery woman whose identity couldn't be determined.

He turned and stared towards the doorway, instantly noticing his friends sitting in the waiting area with smiles upon their faces.

It almost seemed to be happening in slow motion for Zell, his happiness floated away and a loud "NO" escaped his mouth. He stopped in his tracks, trying to think as quickly as he could. There had to be some sort of excuse, some sort of escape that he could take. He took his little black book very seriously and this catastrophe was going to cost him his dignity for at least a week.

This wasn't saying that he was ashamed of whoever this mystery person may have been it was just her position on the pyramid of social status was on completely different end of the board to his own.

"Snapped!" Selphie yelled excitedly.

**---------------------------------------------**

Lucas was more than a little displeased by the arrival of the rain. His temperament seemed to have gotten worse with its development and they'd now retreated to Lucas's car. Rinoa noticed that it was one of the shabby rent-a-car's that always flooded the streets of Balamb. Tourists used them frequently but Rinoa couldn't imagine anything like this had ever happened in one of them.

Rinoa fidgeted anxiously with her dress, not wanting to talk with Lucas again but not really wanting to sit in this uncomfortable silence for much longer. She wouldn't have to though; Lucas's cellphone began ringing once again.

He didn't move though, obviously having no intention of answering it at all but as the ring became more and more annoying he finally gave into it and picked it up with an angry "What!"

Previously Rinoa might've tried to yell for help but she feared another assault of Lucas's anger so she kept her mouth shut.

"I know Marcia…" Lucas sighed.

He glanced at Rinoa for a second and then forced his gaze back in front of him. He really did hate seeing her like this but as he'd come to realize before, it was too late. This was the only way for him and he'd be damned before he didn't give it one last try.

"Don't be like that! You know that you won't."

Hope, it finally entered Rinoa's system after being vacate nearly the entire day. Maybe Marcia was threatening to tell the police or her friends, anyone. She knew that Marcia knew what was going on; she could tell that from Lucas's side of the conversation.

Surely Marcia wouldn't just sit back and let this happen.

"We can't just let her do this to herself! I knew you wouldn't understand."

Suddenly a thought came into Rinoa's mind, Balamb wasn't exactly a big continent but it was big enough. Even if Marcia did tell someone would she really be found? Did anyone actually know where she was? She was a general's daughter but that only meant that she'd be televised when they found her dead and rotting corpse. She couldn't count on Caraway to worry anyway, with the tumultuous relationship that they had had recently he'd probably just think that she'd run away or something.

Her hope only lay in two possible outcomes; that Marcia finally gave in and told someone or Caraway went looking for her. And the first place he'd look would be Squall's.

"So you're willing to leave her with those freaks?"

"They're not freaks…" Rinoa whispered.

Lucas glared at her for a second but didn't say anything, Rinoa had kinda wished he hadn't heard that but obviously he had.

Considering the fact that his main mission here was to rid her of her feelings for them, she didn't expect anything good to come of saying those three words.

She leaned her head against the window and watched the rain cascade down the glass. For a second she actually felt as though she was sitting in her room, just gazing out her window watching her world pass by. Reality was a bitch though so she was quickly thrown out of this daydream.

"Rinoa, I have to go for a couple of hours." Lucas stated.

Rinoa nodded, she didn't have the strength to enquire about anything he had to say. Her fiery spirit had been broken in with all the fear she'd endured today. She knew things were only going to get worse as well.

"I'm going to have to leave you here but I trust that when I get back you'll still be here." Lucas continued.

He really was delusional; he actually believed that Rinoa wasn't going to make any attempt to free herself from his insanity. This opportunity was too good to be true.

He led her out of the car, the rain drenching her nearly instantly. He pulled out a length of rope and Rinoa's previous optimism shattered.

Her arms were tied around a tree and she flopped down in the mud, watching Lucas's retreating figure.

She watched him reverse out of the trees and disappear into the forest.

She got to work immediately, trying to wrench herself from the ropes. If she could get free then she could at least get away from him. She might not be able to run to Balamb but she could work something out when she got away.

The rain at least lubricated her hands a little but it made them hurt more when she tried to rip her hands out.

She heard an all too familiar sound of metal scraping against metal coming towards her. The sound made the hairs stand up on the back of her neck and her eyes widened. It was the same noise she'd heard in the ruins before the Grats came.

_That's me done. It must really fuck you off that Rinoa was only mentioned in the last section of the story but I'm a bitch like that. She still hasn't been found but c'mon she's not ganna suddenly be saved hours after being nabbed. _

_I finally offended someone though! YE-AH! The only thing that pissed me off was that it was for something that I didn't even think was offensive! I know I shouldn't be happy about that but I've been waiting for TWENTY FIVE chapters for someone to be upset by something and it finally happened._

_Enough of this shit though, what'd ya think? _


	26. Chapter twenty six

**The Delinquent**

_Do Grats have eyes? I dunno, they do now._

Rinoa's actions become frantic as the sound got closer and closer, she had hoped that maybe it had just been passing by but going by her luck that day this was not to be. She remembered hearing something about Grats sense of smell being so fine tuned that they could smell blood in the air from up to a mile away.

She knew that she had blood on her; the only thing that was on her side was that by the sounds of it it was only one Grat.

Rinoa tugged as hard as she could on the ropes but to no avail. The only thing she could think to do was to shimmy around the other side of the tree and pray to Hyne that the Grat's stupidity, which was as well known as its sense of smell, was a lot more severe than she gave Grats credit for.

She could hear her own heart thumping inside her chest and the sound of her breath seemed to be louder than the Grats piercing scream. Her eyes were quite possibly wider than they had ever been before and for the first time since Lucas had came to Balamb she wished he was here.

She held her bound hands in front of her, trying to will herself into thinking of something. She was attempting not to panic but in this situation it was a little hard. Rinoa clenched her eyes together and readied herself for the assault that could possibly kill her.

'_That's not a possibility, it's a certainty.' _She thought hopelessly.

The Grat came charging into her eyesight, saliva dripped from its open mouth and its beady eyes searched the area for Rinoa.

It slowly approached, cautiously taking ever single step. This was the wilderness and whatever it could be hunting could quite possibly be larger and stronger than the Grat itself.

Rinoa heard the loud screeching Grat call and could help but let out a scream of her own as the sound stabbed into her eardrums like hot knives. It was times like this that someone could use a pair of hands.

That was generally all the information the Grat needed to know. It rushed at the tree Rinoa hid behind, its four tentacles swinging above its head violently.

Rocks and twigs were thrown about mercilessly it's the Grats six legs scuffed across the forest floor. One hit the tree right beside Rinoa and shattered in half. Rinoa only needed a second to decide what she needed to do. She needed to stay away from the Grat long enough to cut her ropes.

A new determination set in and Rinoa flicked the split rock towards her with her foot and grabbed it with one of her hands. She scuttled around the tree as the monster nearly had her in view, stooping the Grat into a trance of idiocy.

Whatever the creature was that hid behind the tree, it should technically still be there. It hadn't run away because its scent was still nearby.

Rinoa hacked away at the ropes grinning from ear to ear as she saw one part of it cut in half.

The Grat shrieked again and Rinoa winced but kept her mouth firmly shut. She couldn't afford to alert the Grat to her position again, that would ruin everything.

She froze when she heard it take a couple of steps, fearing that it was coming around the tree. After a few seconds she went back to trying to slash her ropes.

Seconds ticked by like days and she frenetically ripped at her bounds. Soon one hand was free, which made the job of freeing the other a million times easier.

Then she was free and running. As soon as she began bolting she heard the Grat screech again and take off after her. Her feet were moving at speeds she had realised that she could run, much faster than she had when it was Lucas after her.

She hadn't really believed he'd do anything serious to her until the moment he tackled her though. He'd hit her but she just couldn't accept it.

She still loved him; you can't just be with someone for so long and then suddenly turn everything off. She just didn't love him enough to be with him, and it was more like she felt she had to be with him, she'd been Lucas's girlfriend for so long it was hard to think of herself as anything else.

Her foot hooked under the wedding dress and she feel to the ground hard. She felt one of the Grats tentacles grasp her ankle and drag her towards its wide and gaping mouth. Rinoa noticed that the rock she'd used for the ropes was still in her hand and she thrust it fiercely into the member that was lugging her.

It let her go and she was off, not looking back as the sound of the Grat screaming echoed through the trees.

Rinoa had no idea where she was heading; all she knew was that she wasn't going to stop for anything. For all she knew she was going to run straight off a cliff but anything was better than being stuck in that forest with psycho Lucas.

She darted left as she nearly ran into a caterpillar looking thing and heading straight, only changing direction when a tree got in the way or a random monster appeared out of nowhere.

Considering how many of them were in this forest she was shocked that the Grat was the only encounter her or Lucas had had with any beasts.

Rinoa's dress got caught on a branch that stuck out further than she had anticipated and she heard the loud rip of her dress. She finally stopped, recognising that this dress was really more of a hindrance than anything else. She grabbed the material and pulled on it with all her might, extending the already large tear until it was now a thigh length dress.

It was times like this that she wished she had a pair of sneakers but all she had was one stiletto shoe, the other having fallen off on all of her endeavours to get free.

She kicked the shoe off and wrapped the material she'd taken from the dress around both of her feet. She grimaced down at her rangi'd-up shoes, hating the circumstances that she'd been subjected to.

Without so much as a second thought she was off again. Ahead of her she could see the forest come to an end and the great plains of Balamb stretching out in front of her.

**-------------------------------**

Rinoa breathed a sigh of relief when she was out in the open again; taking in how wonderful it felt to be free. She couldn't stop for long though, if Lucas saw her then she'd be in BIG trouble.

She saw the oceans waved crashing against the beach and knew that that meant that the road couldn't be too far away. She didn't want to just walk along it though; if she did that then Lucas was sure to find her. Instead she needed to come up with something and quick.

'_I've got way more chance if I find the road.' _Rinoa thought to herself.

Being lost on the Balamb continent could potentially be worse than being stuck in the forest with Lucas.

She saw something in the distance, it was big a red and heading her way.

'_A truck.' _

Without a second thought she began running towards it, shocked at how close the road had been.

Rinoa stood in the middle of the road, waving her arms above her head and screamed "STOP" at the top of her voice. Her desperation to get home was as fierce as it had ever been in her entire life. Her entire world was going into trying to make this trucker stop and the trucker, being a human being, did so.

The breaks screeching together in front of her was like music to Rinoa's ears and she felt a smile start to cross her lips. It was over, her ordeal was finally over. She could go home, she could see Squall, she could have a shower and try to forget.

Admittedly it was doubtful that even when she did get home that she'd be able to forget, this was the sort of thing that one doesn't just disregard.

"You alright darlin'?" The trucker enquired as he got out.

"I need to get to Balamb." Rinoa sobbed.

**-----------------**

Zell rolled his eyes as he listened to his friends lecture him about the importance of honesty. He personally couldn't see how he'd been dishonest, it wasn't like they'd asked or anything.

After he'd been "snapped" they'd retreated to Squall's house. Zell had already tried to sway the conversation onto Squall's fling with Rinoa but no one was going to take the line. Apparently they had all the time in the world to give Squall shit about that.

"Just tell us who she is." Selphie whined.

Zell had been quite tight lipped about it, not wanting to damage his reputation or open himself up to anything that they might have to say about this particular female.

"Haven't you figured it out yet?" Quistis scoffed.

Selphie shook her head, no one else was admitting it but they had no idea either.

"It's that girl, Rinoa's friend. I forget her name." Quistis continued.

"What makes you so sure?" Zell accused.

"Well, at first I didn't think so but then I realised that she'd have to be staying somewhere and the obvious place is the hotel. If it was anyone else they would've left with you instead of staying at the hotel wouldn't they? Not to mention she'd attractive and has all the physical features that you're attracted to."

Zell glanced around the room to see this opinion dawn on everyone else, he lowered his head to the ground, recognizing that he really had been snapped out.

"You pog; sleeping with the enemy!" Squall laughed, clapping his hands his hands in a sort of mock congratulations.

"Good on ya mate, she's fine." Irvine congratulated.

"She's all good." Zell finally said.

Zell soon came to the conclusion that hiding her identity was going to help him; it was pretty safe to say that they all knew damn well who she was. His new tactic was to turn this upset into a good thing, if he could explain to them what she was like then they couldn't give him any kind of flavour of shit.

"Then why did you feel you had to hide her physical engagement with her?" Quistis enquired.

"Well…" Zell begun.

"Why can't you just ask a normal fucking question for once?" Seifer interrupted.

Quistis turned her head slowly and glared maliciously at Seifer, it was a look that just screamed _I'm going to grab a power drill and plant it into your skull. Then feed your dead body to pigs_.

"Don't you start your shit!" Quistis growled.

This was of course going to turn into another classic Quistis and Seifer moment, another memorable flash in there relationship that would be forever entwined in their hearts.

"**Oh my Hyne, Rinoa what happened?" **

They all stopped any kind of conversation as they heard Ellone's voice echo into the room.

"**Where's Squall." **Rinoa's voice cried.

Squall was off his bed and down the steps in a matter of seconds. The others close behind him. If it hadn't have been for the situation it actually could've been considered quite funny.

Rinoa leaned against the side of the doorframe; her body was finally giving out on her. The stress and fear that had been pulsing through her brain, the torment her mind had gone through that day finally got to her. She held her head in her hands and bawled her eyes out. Her body slowly slid down and she brought her knees up to her chest, hugging them tightly to her heart, still in an uncontrollable wave of tears.

Squall stopped in his tracks, not able to consol her but not able to just leave her. He clenched his fists by his sides and began breathing quite heavily.

Selphie and Quistis rushed to Rinoa's side, one of them on either side of her. Quistis grabbed one of her hands and began trying to calm Rinoa down while Selphie rubbed her back and leaned her head on her shoulder.

"Rinoa, what happened?" Quistis whispered.

Rinoa let out a loud sob and took a deep intake of breath, making that high pitched squeal people make when they can't breathe.

"Lucas… he," Rinoa began, before stopping to try and catch her breath again. "H-he knocked m-me out and…"

Quistis tore her eyes away from Rinoa and looked over to Squall, his eyes were wide and his face was enraged.

"he t-t-took me," Rinoa finally let out.

She was obviously beyond a mess and it really did break all their hearts to see her like that. Rinoa was sort of the baby, it wasn't a youngest thing, she wasn't after all. It was just that they all kind of looked out for her in one way or another. She was far from any kind of street wise, even though she was getting better; she was still somewhat naive to how the other side worked.

"Where is he Hun?" Selphie said softly.

Rinoa shrugged, "I don't know." She said quickly, trying her hardest to calm herself down. "He said he was going somewhere."

Quistis slowly stood, noticing just how furious Squall was getting. Quistis knew exactly why, Rinoa's face was bruised, she had blood all down one side of her face, and her feet were wrapped in bit of her dress that know had blood from her toes seeping through it.

Not to mention the many bruises she had on her legs from falling over while running and the fact that she had a shredded to shit wedding dress on. That's also forgetting to mention the fact that she was hysterical about Lucas knocking her out, kidnapping her and taking her to some unknown location to do who knows what.

"Squall… are you ok?" Quistis enquired delicately.

"Get me my car keys." Squall seethed.

"I don't think you're in any state to drive Squall." Quistis stated.

Squall's mind was coming up with conclusions that Lucas had raped Rinoa or something like that. As soon as he thought of one bad thing his brain would leap onto something much worse.

"Get me my car keys now!"

Squall barrelled the sentence out like a gun going off, it shook the place. The mad fury in his voice was almost frightening. He'd never felt so much rage in his life

_This is beginning to be worse than Shortland St. I don't spose many of you know what that show is. _

_The ruins haven't got much play lately, things should start happening with that soon cause I gotta start drawing to some sort of conclusion in this fic. _


	27. Chapter twenty seven

**The Delinquent**

"What's he in?" Squall enquired as he edged his way pasted Rinoa.

He didn't really know how to consol her and being in his current state he didn't really want to. All he wanted was to see Lucas's nuts dangling off the branch of a tree.

"I dunno, like a blue car with a grey interior. I remember it's got a pine tree air-freshener hanging from the rear vision…" Rinoa said as calmly as she could muster.

"That's enough," Squall interrupted.

He looked over to his comrades, his fierce glare still engraved into his usually nonchalant face.

"I'm going." He stated.

"Fuck yea man, let's do this." Zell exclaimed.

Squall was glad to have his friends by his side for this, at least then he knew it didn't matter if he went a little psycho, they'd stop him if he went too far.

**----------------------**

Squall car was abnormally silent; the usually upbeat teenagers' whole focus was going towards finding Lucas. They'd driven around all the houses in the immediate area, now they were searching around the docks, next was going to be the middle of town.

"We gotta think. Where would he go?" Irvine finally burst out.

After looking for about twenty minutes he was starting to get a bit restless. Things were beginning to seem a hopeless, what were the chances of actually finding him?

"Well he's not fucking here is he!" Squall snapped before planting his foot down on the accelerator, startling everyone in the car.

Squall's journey took him into town; he slowed down as they passed various cars parked on the road. Two sets of eyes were on either side of the street, looking for something, mainly searching for the air freshener though. It was the only feature that they had that sounded remotely plausible enough to actually go check it out.

"There, THERE." Seifer shouted, pointing vigorously towards a car parked on the side of the road.

Squall could barely believe his eyes, what were the chances? The reality of actually finding had started to set in and he was beginning to think that he should just go back to his house.

Without as much as a second thought he promptly parked in a free car park about six cars away from Lucas'.

He dived out of his convertible, adrenaline pulsing through his veins and fury buried deep into his heart. His pale blue eyes hunted the area; every face was briefly scanned for at least half a second.

"Well where the fuck is he?" Zell exclaimed.

Seifer rolled his eyes, a witty comeback already brewing in his scheming little brain. Under normal circumstances he would've had great joy in pointing out the stupidity of Zell's comment but these weren't exactly what he would call "normal circumstances".

"This was a stupid idea!" Squall ranted.

"Don't say that, we've just gotta wait." Irvine reasoned.

"Wait? Oh wake up Irvine. That could be any other rented car!" Squall retorted.

"Maybe but what else have we got to go on?" Zell cried, throwing himself right in the middle of the impending argument.

"NOTHING!" Squall raged.

The people passing by stopped in there tracks and stared at him for a few seconds, he didn't say much more for a couple of seconds. He just breathed heavily and tried with all his might to calm himself down.

"But standing here waiting for nothing isn't helping Rinoa either."

The audience had now gone back to their daily business, ignoring the commotion that the teenagers were causing.

Squall breathed heavily, confusion racked through his brain. He didn't know what to do, it wasn't like this sort of thing happened on a regular basis. All of a sudden his life had just gone all fucked up and he didn't know how to fix it.

Life had been so simple before, he'd been in control of everything. Now what was he in control of? What could he honestly say that he knew for sure anymore? Even if he did get his vindication, would that mean that Rinoa would suddenly be fine and everything would be alright again?

Not knowing the answers to any of these questions was driving him insane. Every passing second just seemed to make the whole situation seen worse. So far he'd relied on his instincts and straight up luck. It had kept him both alive and out of trouble so far and by the looks of things it just might be the same this time.

Squall looked upon the faces of his comrades, reading there body language almost like a professional. When you go through so much history with people you soon learn just what most things meant.

Seifer had stood a little taller, his eyes flaring with excitement; it was the same look he always got when he saw someone that he wanted to harm. Zell pushed his body away from the car that he had been casually leaning against.

His nostrils also flared a little, the way they always did when he was suddenly feeling a surge of anger. Irvine's mouth went slightly agape, his face perplexed in disbelief. It was his face that told Squall just who must be in eyesight.

He turned quickly, his eyes narrowing in on Lucas nearly immediately. He had two brown paper bags in his arms, filled with provisions from the grocery store that he was walking out of.

He walked about three meters out of the store before he finally noticed Squall, his face distorting to a look of alarm as he took in the situation that he was in.

While he didn't know that Rinoa had freed herself, he felt a fierce vibe almost illuminating off them. Lucas found himself feeling afraid at that point and he knew that he had too much to lose at this point to blow everything by having some sort of confrontation.

Without a second thought he dropped his bags and bolted for his car, Squall taking off after him, pounding on the glass of the driver seat window as Lucas pulled out and took off.

Squall ran towards his own vehicle, skidding across the bonnet of the car beside him before diving in. he didn't wait for the others to get in before taking off after Lucas, a new determination pumping inside of him and adrenaline pulsing through him violently.

**--------------------------**

Rinoa stared passively out the window, biting her nails anxiously as her eyes darted to look at every car. Her friends sat beside her, offering her comfort at times when she was about to start crying again and unsuccessfully trying to cheer her up or at least get out of her what happened.

"C'mon Rin, what did he do?" Selphie urged.

She'd been the one that had tried the hardest; Rinoa was slowly learning the hard way that they weren't the best people to go to for consolation.

Quistis seemed a little stiff, like she didn't really know what to do but was trying her best. It was obvious that they hadn't really had to do this too much in their lives.

Rinoa envied them for there simplicity, the fact that they could just role through life without a care. Doing what they wanted and somehow always managing to stay out of any _serious_ trouble.

She'd only lived it for a short amount of time but in that time she'd learnt a freedom that she'd never known. Somehow she felt as though Lucas had taken that away from her, how could she ever be the same again?

What she went through wasn't just traumatic, it was emotionally scaring. She'd been so sure that she was going to die, that Lucas was just going to kill her and now that she was safe she couldn't say that she'd ever have the same untroubled freedom that she had experience before.

"He robbed me." Rinoa stated shortly.

That sentence summed up exactly what she thought as well, robbed.

"Oh Rin, c'mon," Ellone said.

Ellone stood and walked over to Rinoa, extending her hand out to her.

"You need a shower."

Rinoa finally cracked a half smile; she couldn't deny that, changing out of her clothes would be a treat as well.

"Me 'n' Quisty will go and get you some clothes." Selphie chimed after Ellone.

It was as if they'd read her mind. Friends were scary like that though, she would've thanked them had it not been for the fact that she was more than a little excited to be able to have a shower.

She hadn't really thought about it before but now that it was on her mind she could think of nothing better. To just get out of that dress and wash all the mud off her, rinse all the mud off… bliss.

**-------------------------**

Squall could feel his heart beating against his chest as he drove as fast as he could down the busy streets of Balamb. It wasn't so much the traffic, there was fuck all of that, it was the people. They were everywhere and seeing as the speed limit was about 50 KM/H they thought it was alright to just walk out in front of you.

Squall was too worried about the speed limit at this point; he was concentrating a bit more on following Lucas's car. He could only just see it; Lucas's car was a bit faster than Squall's. It was times like this that he actually wished he owned a half decent car.

At this point Squall had to shake his head, it wasn't the cars fault at all, and he loved his car. He had way more good memories in it than bad. He'd brought it about two weeks after he crashed the previous love of his life. The one before had been a right shitter, but it had taken him to new and very exciting places.

Back to the matter at hand though. Squall ripped on his handbrake and slid to a 90 degree turn, followed by a burn out. He'd been a bit late turning you see so drastic measures had to be taken, plus he wasn't going to lose this fuck for nothing.

He had no idea what he was actually doing; all he knew was that at some point Lucas was going to have to stop and he was going to be there. He was going to be there to deal an awful amount of pain upon Lucas's body.

The absence of his friends hadn't even registered in his brain yet and the fact that he nearly lost his last encounter with Lucas was yet to set in as well. All he could think about was Rinoa's tear streaked face as she burst into his house, collapsing on the floor and making him realise the awful truth.

He couldn't protect her from anything, he'd thought the whole time he'd known her that no matter what he'd be able to shield her from anything terrible that may happen but he couldn't. He was responsible for this whole thing.

If he hadn't showed her to her class on her first day, if he'd only stopped Zell from inviting her over that first day, if he hadn't let her come on her first mission… maybe none of this would've happened.

Rinoa would still be happy and he… he would still be the same person he was before.

Squall didn't want to admit it but she had affected him, she'd changed him. It may only be a subtle difference but it was still more than most people had done.

He liked to pride himself on being unmovable; apparently this was a lie, a façade, the very thing that he hated people for.

**----------------**

"I have to go." Rinoa stated.

"No Rinny, we don't even know where they are." Selphie sighed.

"Well we can find them! Balamb isn't that big!" Rinoa exclaimed, finding a new determination that she'd thought Lucas had taken.

Quistis stared at Rinoa, surprised by her new resolve. She'd been, horrible to say I know, a bit pathetic since she'd gotten back. Quistis understood though, she'd gone through something emotionally scarring and couldn't be expected to just pick up her shit and move on.

"Rin's right, beside's I don't want to miss all the action. Why should we miss out?" Quistis grinned.

Rinoa smiled, it was only small but it was a smile nonetheless. She glanced at Ellone for a second, seeing the disapproving look on her face made Rinoa think for a couple of seconds. Was this really such a good idea? If she was there she might only get in the way rather than be of any help. What if she made Squall lose the fight?

"C'mon Rin, are we going?" Quistis urged already heading for the door.

Rinoa nodded, ignoring all her doubts and fears, deciding that for once her instinct might be a better thing to follow. Squall had always told her to just follow her instincts; he said that it could be a saviour. Hopefully today his theory would be proven right.

**----------------------**

Squall grinned menacingly as he finally saw Lucas's car come to a stop. It was about three blocks away from his own house, which was actually kinda convenient. He could get this over and done with and be back home in time for tea.

He swiftly parked behind Lucas, exiting the car seconds after it stopped.

Lucas waited, leaning against his car, a small smirk on his face. Squall narrowed his eyes and began walking speedily towards Lucas, not bothering to say anything to him.

"I'm ganna kill him." Squall muttered his emotions finally at their all time high and that's when it happened.

He saw what could only be described as a blinding light and was suddenly somewhere else.

He looked around to see Zell beside him and Quistis on the other side of Zell. They both stared at him solemnly and noticed an aura of something that he could only compare to despair in the cramped quarters.

"Wh-what the fuck is going on? Where the fucks Lucas?" Squall exclaimed.

"I'm so sorry Squall; the assassination of the sorceress was more than a great loss for us but for everyone in Balamb. Without her we're open for any kind of attack, we simply don't have the strength to defend ourselves without her." Quistis stated Squall could see the water behind her crystal blue eyes that refused to fall.

"Oh fuck, not now, NOT NOW!" Squall yelled as he realised that he was in another one of his 'dream world' moments.

"We know Squall, she was more than just the sorceress to all of us but Rinoa's dead." Zell whispered. "We have to start planning what we're going to do now."

"Zell's right Squall, the only course of action I can think of is retribution. We must retaliate before other continents start believing we are weak. We leave ourselves open for conquest if we don't." Quistis continued.

Squall put his head in his hands, not believing that this was happening again. And even if it had to happen, why now? What triggered it? Why hadn't it happened before?

All these questions and he didn't have one answer, he was starting to think that he was going insane, maybe none of this was real? Maybe this was real and his other life wasn't?

All he wanted was to go back to when things were perfect. It had only been a few hours ago but it seemed like it was a lifetime.

"What's happening to me?"

_Before you start I am so sorry! It's been like two weeks and you haven't heard anything. There's nothing worse than when someone takes FOREVER to update and you lose interest in the story. This shouldn't happen again I just had a lot to deal with lately. _

_I also apologise for the climactic fight between Lucas and Squall, the one everyone's been waiting for since Lucas became a dickhead was sorta ruined. I had to spruce it up a bit though and the next chapter should be longer, the fight should happen and will be of better quality. _

_I didn't actually like this chapter too much but I had to do something before you all gave up on it. I'm not giving up on this story! I repeat I am not giving up on this story!_

_Ok I'm done, now it's your turn… what'd ya think?_


	28. Chapter twenty eight

**The Delinquent**

_Put on your thinking caps, this gets a little confusing. Squall is currently in that dream fantasy that happens so just keep that in mind. Also there is a lot of character switching going on, but hopefully I've made it as idiot proof as possible. _

"Umm… Squall are you ok?" Quistis enquired, reaching her hand out to touch his shoulder.

"No…" Squall sighed.

He didn't know what was going on, everything was just all fucked up. One moment he'd been about to have his showdown with Lucas and the next he had Zell and Quistis telling him about how important it was to retaliate.

'_I was trying to!_' Squall thought to himself.

He no longer really saw the point in answering anything they had to say, it wasn't like they could hear him. He was so confused it was frustrating him, add the fact that he had a pulsing rage pumping inside of him and it equalled a destructive combo.

"Squall…" Quistis said softly.

Squall felt a new resolve settling itself inside of him, he felt a sort of reluctant confidence starting to edge its way to the surface. It was a surreal feeling that he just couldn't explain if he tried.

"I'm fine; send mercenaries to every continent, incognito or course. I want to find out who's responsible for the assassination and see them executed." Squall replied.

The words had burst out of Squall's mouth so suddenly and it left him wondering where they had come from.

"How do we know there was more than one? No one saw it…" Zell began.

"Do you really believe that a single person could take out Rinoa?" Squall shouted suddenly. "I'm sorry… It's not your fault…"

"Its ok Squall, we understand. You're upset and that's ok." Quistis said after a few seconds.

Squall shook his head, not wanting to answer that. He couldn't call what he felt upset, it was much stronger. He felt a strange feeling of purposelessness, he was Rinoa's knight… if she was gone what was he? He had failed, obviously but now that that was over what was he supposed to do? The only thing he could think of was vindication and how he was supposed to get that was anyone's guess.

"I don't care what it takes, find them." Squall finalised before he took the lift down.

Squall didn't know where these emotions were coming from, he wasn't saying the words that were flowing freely out his mouth and even the way he stood and changed considerably.

**----------------**

Lucas watched as Squall's body slumped to the ground. He raised one of his blonde eyebrows and tilted his head to the side, wondering if Squall had had an epileptic fit or something. He walked over and lightly kicked him with his boot, still wary that this might be one of his hick town tricks or something. How he intended on winning while lying on the ground was anyone's guess but you never know.

Lucas briefly wondered if he should call an ambulance before shrugging his shoulders and planting a kick into Squall's ribs. He'd make sure this wasn't a trick first.

"For fucks sake!" Lucas exclaimed. '_I'm not fighting a disabled person!_' he thought to himself.

Although he wasn't what one might refer to as the most sane person on earth,

**---------------------**

Squall felt the rain pelt down on his body and lightening cracked above him. It was as if the heavens themselves were there to witness him getting his retribution. Before him stood the source of his anguish, the reason that he was now futile.

Before him stood a tall man with a dark crimson hood masking his face in shadow, he had black bangs hanging over his face a little and his head was bowed to the ground. He had black pants and a black vest that was mainly covered up by the long crimson coat that he wore.

"You found me…" he stated, lifting his head up to stare at Squall.

He was shocked when he saw Lucas's face staring back at him. He had the brightest blue eyes Squall had ever seen. It could've been because they contrasted so dramatically with all the black he had on but they really were quite startling.

Squall had been informed of his whereabouts about three weeks after the initial search had begun. While finding him had been a challenge, actually capturing him had proved to be even more of one. He'd managed to escape any trap, fight his way out of any fight and generally just give them the slip more times than Squall had cared to count.

Numerous SeeD's had lost there lives to this man, all because they had followed Squall's orders and tried to take the man down.

Some of Squall's closest friends had gone down… all because of his orders.

In the end Squall had decided that he needed to see to this personally. Not that it wasn't personal enough, they hadn't had the chance to duel against each other yet and this was definitely a showdown to remember.

"I guess this is the part where in a fit of rage you give you life for revenge. No one can beat me Squall."

**-------------**

Lucas backed away from Squall as he slowly stood. There was a hate in his eyes that couldn't be explained. Lucas actually found himself getting a little nervous; he took a couple more steps back before he found himself pressed against his car.

"You killed Rinoa." Squall stated slowly.

"Aye…" Lucas trailed off. "Rinoa's not dead."

"Now I'm going to kill you." Squall continued.

Lucas tilted his head to the side as he saw a single tear roll down Squall's cheek; he was acting more insane than Lucas felt at this point.

**-------------**

Squall dropped his Gunblade to the ground; it was enough to inspire his opponent to do the same. Squall didn't actually believe that he could win a hand to hand fight against this man. Zell had done the same and he… he wasn't around to see Squall extract his vengeance.

He felt the tear roll down his cheek but didn't lift a finger to wipe it away, this tear wasn't just for his anguish, it was for Rinoa… and everyone else that this man had harmed.

The man laughed, he lifted his head up in the air and put his hands on his stomach for effect. Had it been any other situation Squall might have thought of what an idiot this guy was turning out to be but he wasn't overly concerned about that right now.

"Do you really think you can hurt me without your Gunblade!" he cried incredulously.

**------------**

"I don't intend to hurt you, I intend to kill you." Squall said softly before he flew at Lucas.

His right fist was bawled beside his chest and the other was in front of his body, partially open and extended slightly in front of him. Lucas was ready with a punch of his own though and was the first one to land anything. His fist slamming forcefully into Squall's face, the feeling wasn't so much painful but his ears go a little deaf for a couple of seconds.

He gritted his teeth and with his extended hand deflected an oncoming punch, settling one of his own into Lucas's stomach.

And so the fight had begun…

**----------**

Ellone parted the curtains a little as she watched Rinoa and the other girls leave to go find Squall. She was extremely worried about Squall, he was more fragile than he seemed and he was getting into way over his head.

She sighed and reached for the phone, not wanting to be the one who had to do this but seeing no other option. Squall would never forgive her but she was scared.

Scared of seeing her little brother get himself in more shit, scared that he might get the shit kicked out of him but mostly scared that he was going to come back a lot more fucked up than he already was.

She wasn't going to just come right out and say it but sometimes, just occasionally, she wished that Squall was like everyone else. Life would be so much simpler then… Raine wouldn't be stressed out all the time, Laguna could have the father son relationship that he'd always strived for but never attained and she wouldn't have to feel the same anxiousness that she was going through now.

Ellone slowly hung up the phone, closing her eyes tightly as she did so. She couldn't, she just couldn't. if she rang the police Squall would never forgive her, ever.

**-----------------**

Lucas backed away slightly, he hit the brick wall behind him after a couple of steps and he glanced over his shoulder. Why did he have to back himself into the fucking wall?

He felt a drop of rain and looked up in disbelief, not believing that it could possibly rain anymore than it already had that day.

Squall didn't stand around for long though, he ran at Lucas, head butting Lucas with staggering force. Lucas was knocked to the ground while Squall stood above him, dazed a little but certainly better off than Lucas.

Lucas lifted one of his hands and felt his forehead. He brought his hand back down to see a little bit of blood marking his fingers.

He kicked up as high as he could and nailed Squall straight in the nuts, dropping him instantly. Squall reached down to massage his injured babies, rolling around on the ground, coughing and gasping for breath as the inconceivable amount of pain jolted through his body.

Lucas took the opportunity to stand, smirking slightly as he kicked Squall as hard as he could in the stomach.

"Why do you keep coming to get your assed kicked?" Lucas laughed, too caught up in his ego trip to notice Squall regaining a bit of his mobility.

Squall grabbed Lucas' leg and ripped on it as hard as he could, sending Lucas on the ground with him.

Squall crawled up his body and straddled him between his legs. He grabbed Lucas's shirt and just planted his fist into his face, again and again and again.

Squall saw the blood, it wasn't just covering Lucas's face, it was up Squall's hand and his knuckles were bleeding profusely.

He knew he had to stop, he was taking it too far but he couldn't. Every time Lucas's head flung up after the powerful jolt down he had to crack him another time.

Lucas grabbed a small piece of concrete that lay near him, knowing that he had to get himself out of this or he'd be walking away with a shit load more than a broken nose.

He grasped it in his hand and smashed it into Squall's face with all the force he could muster.

It wasn't enough to seriously injure Squall, but it was enough to knock him off Lucas. He fell sideways onto the ground and cradled his head in his hands. He could hear Lucas breathing heavily and spitting out blood.

Squall shook his head and stood up slowly, once he was steady enough he grabbed Lucas's hair and pulled him up.

Lucas let out a quiet but desperate "No…" as he did, too weak to think he could put up much of a fight.

"Did she say no?" Squall shouted, his face inches away from Lucas's. "When you killed her? Or did she not see you?"

Tears again rolled down Squall's face, mixing with the rain that had started to drench them.

"I don't know what you're talking about!" Lucas begged.

He was serious too; he was starting to get a little worried. What if something had happened to Rinoa out there? He had to get the hell out of here fast and find out what was going on! If she was dead then it was his fault and he'd go to prison, he couldn't survive prison!

"Liar!" Squall screamed, throwing Lucas to the ground fiercely.

He crushed his eyes together, his angst taking over.

"Were you paid to do it!" Squall continued.

Lucas heard a car coming and thanked sweet merciful Hyne; he wasn't going to be stuck for long. Surely whoever it was would try to help somehow.

His face fell when he saw Quistis, Selphie and… Rinoa…

Squall on the other hand was completely unaware to their presence. He bent down beside Lucas and grabbed his collar once again, his face, again, directly in front of Lucas's.

"Well you should've known!" he hissed through clenched teeth.

He began again sending an assault of attacks on Lucas's face, this time warranting three words that stopped his battering immediately.

"Squall please no!" Rinoa's voice wailed out.

His fist stopped in mid air and he turned. The look in his eyes couldn't be explained and he dropped Lucas instantly.

Squall took a couple of steps towards her before dropping to his knees, never taking his eyes from Rinoa.

Rinoa ran to his side, crouching down beside him and wrapping her arms around his body.

"How is this possible?" Squall stuttered out. "You're dead."

Rinoa pulled herself away, staring at Squall deeply in the eyes. They weren't the same…

"Holy shit what is that!" Selphie exclaimed in the background.

Rinoa looked up to see the outline of a person. The rain was trickling down and it was obvious that there was someone standing there but they couldn't be seen.

Squall felt a hand placed gently on his shoulder, he closed his eyes once again… he knew her touch.

"Rinoa…" he whispered out.

Rinoa stood and stepped back, her mouth slightly agape and her eyes never leaving the area the person should've stood.

Squall stood and turned to the ghost, obviously seeing a lot more than Rinoa or anyone else was seeing.

"I'm so tired Rinoa." Squall cried.

He nodded, hearing something that only he seemed to be able to hear. As quickly as it had all been there it disappeared and Squall's body fell swiftly to the ground.

Rinoa gasped and tried in vain to catch his fall; she missed and had to opt for resting his unconscious head on her lap.

Rinoa didn't even look when she heard the running footsteps behind her; she knew that it'd be Lucas running away. He couldn't exactly stick around could he? Before she'd thought that she was going to lay charges, he was mentally defective for Hyne's sake!

But she wouldn't, he wasn't going to make the same mistake again. She'd seen the state he'd been in when she'd turned up and her only concern right now was for Squall.

Quistis and Selphie were by her side in seconds. Quistis checked all his vitals, afraid that he'd died or something while Selphie wept over and over again "is he ganna be ok?"

"He's ok! We gotta take him home though, he needs rest." Quistis deducted.

"Shouldn't we take him to the hospital or something?" Selphie exclaimed.

"He's not actually that bad, I don't know why he's unconscious, it could just be all the stress or something!" Quistis barked.

She got a bit moody when things got intense and things were certainly getting pretty damn intense.

Rinoa looked down at his sleeping form, feeling an unreal feeling of relief. She suddenly felt like it was over, a weight that she hadn't been aware of had been taken away. She was worried about Squall yes, but she just felt that for once everything might be alright.

_Can you see me rounding everything off? Ow, I know its ganna end though cause I got a wicked idea for another fic as I was walking home before. _

_Hope you all enjoyed that, things are back to normal now so expect my next update HEAPS quicker than the last two. I'd say there's only about another two chapters left in this story, maybe three but I dunno._

_Anywayz, thoughts anyone?_


	29. Chapter twenty nine

**The Delinquent**

_These people are always worried about Squall, he needs to sort his shit out I feel!_

Rinoa sipped on her hot coffee, watching the seemingly calm teenagers talk amongst themselves. She hadn't said too much, not thinking that she could really contribute to the conversation with anything other than how worried she was about Squall.

"Well today safely rounds off my ten most fucked up experiences." Quistis said light-heartedly as she took a seat on one of the stools beside the breakfast bench.

Everyone, other than Squall that was, was seated on one of them. They'd quickly got hold of the boys as soon as they'd returned to Squall's so that they didn't stay out half the night trying to find him.

"It wasn't that bad… other than the whole Rinoa getting kidnapped and stuff..."

"Zell shut the fuck up." Seifer groaned.

Zell glared at Seifer but put his head down in defeat after awhile, he always backed down to Seifer. He never backed down to anyone but he always managed to back down to him.

Rinoa clutched her coffee mug and silently made her way up the stairs, hoping that they wouldn't notice her absence. She didn't think that would be an issue though as she felt basically every pair of eyes there staring at her.

Rinoa quietly opened the door to Squall's room and saw him lying flatly on his bed, her face peaceful with a small smile tracing his lips.

She shut the door a little more forcefully than she planned to and glanced over at Squall to see him start to stir.

His eyes slowly opened and adjusted to the light. Rinoa took a seat beside his bed and he stared over to her, not saying anything. His eyes were focused intently on her face, almost the same way that they had been when he'd been fighting Lucas, but this time they'd lost a fair bit of there fervour.

"Squall…" Rinoa said softly, not actually wishing to say anything more.

He reached over and ran one of his hands down the side of her face, smiling slightly at the soft feel of her skin.

"What happened?" Squall enquired after a few seconds.

"You fought Lucas." Rinoa replied her voice still little over a whisper.

"Did I win?" Squall asked.

The question seemed somewhat stupid, he was there, he should know.

"Don't you remember?"

"I was fighting him somewhere else…" Squall trailed off.

He knew how insane that sounded, he didn't exactly want to go into details about it but he would never forget what happened.

For some reason it seemed to make sense to Rinoa though, the person that she'd witnessed fighting Lucas hadn't been Squall, at least not the one that she knew.

"Did I win?" Squall asked again, more concerned with how the fight turned out anyway rather than the lunacy of the situation.

Rinoa smiled and nodded, she was proud of him, even if it hadn't been him. He'd fought for her, for the second time. The first hadn't really been anything to be proud about but it was sweet nonetheless. She didn't have too many incidents lately that warranted the term "sweet" so she took what she could. For Squall, it was sweet though.

"That's alright then." Squall sighed as he closed his eyes.

**------------------**

Ellone sat down in the seat that Rinoa had previously been located. She'd been waiting when they came in, Seifer carrying Squall's unconscious body over his shoulder. She was relieved to see that he was alright, even if he was a state.

The story that she'd been told made her think that they were pulling her leg but the conviction in there eyes had convinced her that they weren't. She was quite perceptive about how people were feeling.

"What a bunch of bullshit." Seifer scoffed.

"It's not, it's the truth." Selphie exclaimed.

"No more drugs for you three." Seifer continued.

"Go take a shit! It's true!" Selphie retorted.

"You said that this isn't the first time Squall's blacked out and had a story to tell afterwards." Ellone interrupted.

Ellone interrupting anyone when they were talking, whether it be an argument or a deep meaningful conversation, was an unusual and momentous occasion, even if it was a course of action greatly appreciated by almost everyone.

"Yeah, what was it the first time?" Irvine thought out loud.

"Something about seeds," Selphie continued.

"And it only really happened when he was inside the ruins?" Ellone said.

Everyone nodded, not really sure about what Ellone was trying to get at.

"I think that you guys shouldn't go there anymore. It sounds dangerous…"

"It's not dangerous Ellone! Sure it's pretty fucking shabby but as long as you're careful…" Zell began.

"I mean in the more spiritual sense. Something awful must have happened there."

"Then why the hell is it that Squall sees all of us?" Quistis interjected.

She'd remained fairly silent about the conversation. She knew that Ellone was interested in that whole spiritual nonsense, but she believed in facts and science. Everything could be explained… but she had had her beliefs tested today. She couldn't explain what she saw.

"I don't really know. Squall could just be associating the spirits that reside there with people that he knows. Just promise me that you guys won't go looking for trouble there?"

**--------------/**

"Where the fuck are you taking us?" Irvine exclaimed.

They were rocking along the busy streets of Balamb and heading to an area of town that none of them were too familiar with, other than Quistis that was.

"We're going to the library, I wanna find out what the fuck is going on with me." Squall stated.

He'd taken Rinoa, Quistis and Irvine to help him with this task, no way was he going to enter a library with Seifer, Selphie or Zell. That was just asking for chaos.

"What do you think you're ganna find?" Rinoa enquired.

"Fuck div I know, I just know that I need answers. I'm accepting this leave it alone shit." Squall replied.

"Maybe you should." Quistis chuckled.

"What was the first thing you did when your mum told you not to pick the scab on your knee?" Squall asked rhetorically.

They all knew the answer to that question, you picked it. Most of the time it bled like fuck and ended out turning into a larger scab than what had previously been located on your knee but as a kid you didn't really look at the long run.

It was curiosity and Squall had carried a lot of that same curiosity onto later life. Instead of asking why, he'd do it and find out why. The consequences of his actions usually determined whether it was a good or bad idea.

They pulled up outside a large brick building with large windows located all around it. Through the windows you could see the rows and rows of books, old people reading a book because they really had nothing better to do with there day and a group of lively teenagers doing school work.

"Fuck it." Squall snapped.

"What?" Quistis enquired.

"Those pieces of shit from school are here."

"What can they say? They're in the library as well." Rinoa scoffed.

Squall weighed up his options; he could leave, not willing to risk confrontation. He really couldn't be fucked and yesterday had been exciting enough. On the other he could just bite the bullet and go inside, fuck what they thought.

"Think Rinoa, today's Monday, there ganna be doing a school assignment." Quistis sighed.

"So could we." Irvine suggested.

"Oh yeah like there ganna believe that." Quistis retorted.

"Fuck those dicks; I don't care what they think." Squall said as he opened his door and strode confidently to the automatically opening library doors.

The others soon followed, not wanting to seem like they were embarrassed either. They kind of were though; each of them had reputations to uphold, bar Quistis but not even she had too much to do with such an educational place.

Nothing was really said though, Squall was already at the desk asking where they kept there old newspapers and everyone at the table ignored him. Surprising, considering the fact that they usually exchanged a few insults at each other before parting ways.

Rinoa and Quistis on the other hand didn't get away as easily.

They heard a wolf whistle which Rinoa was going to ignore until Quistis turned around.

"Hey there sweet thang." A brunette said cheesily. "Why don't you come ride a real man?"

Rinoa had a loud and abrasive "fuck off!" on the edge of her tongue but Quistis got in there first.

"Listen you seem like a really stupid person but the amount of times you've had Chlamydia I wouldn't touch you with a forty foot pole." She said elegantly, never faltering once. "You boys behave now." She said just as cheesily as the male had spoken.

Rinoa grinned and followed Quistis over to where the old newspapers were.

"How do you come up with that shit!" Rinoa exclaimed once they were out of earshot.

"I don't know, I think it's a gift."

The found Squall and Irvine already pulling out the dusty papers. They went back years, civilised society had been located on Balamb for quite awhile and that meant a lot of old newspapers.

"How do you expect to find anything with all these?" Rinoa said.

"Easy, jump on the computer and write SeeD." Squall replied.

"Have you never heard of gardening?" Irvine interjected.

Squall opened his mouth to say something but closed it again, not really having an answer to that. This was a pretty stupid plan.

'_Maybe if we go back to the ruins I might be able to find out what year it was…' _Squall thought, desperate for answers of some sort.

"What were they wearing?" Quistis exclaimed.

"Aye?" Squall blurted out.

"The people in your dreams, what were they wearing?" Quistis repeated.

'_What the hells this bitch on about?'_ "I dunno fur coats… no… umm… fur lined jackets, that were too short, lotsa leather."

"Try to be a bit more specific, what were you wearing?" Quistis enquired.

"I just told you what I was wearing." Squall growled.

Quistis pleaded with her eyes for him to try, he closed his eyes and put on hand on his head, trying to think. He didn't really take much of an interest. He remembered Quistis's outfit a little but only because she looked funny, they all did, fucked up clothes.

"Fuck div I know, they had lost of belts and they carried weapons everywhere." Squall finalised.

"So there must have been some sort of war or something." Irvine suggested.

"Nah could have been leading up to one though. They started talking about retaliation cause someone killed the sorceress or some shit."

"A sorceress, that means that it had to be more than sixty years back. All the sorceress was captured cause they were deemed dangerous." Quistis piped in.

"Cant've been that long ago, their clothes were definitely weird but they were sorta wearable."

Squall thought for awhile, letting them bounce around a few ideas for awhile, he had to think. He didn't particularly want to go into one of those dream things again; things were getting too fucked up.

"Hold up!" Squall finally shouted, he cowered for a couple of seconds realising he was still in a library. Library ladies were scary in a freakish sort of way. "What if this assassination was part of that capture?" Squall continued.

"It's possible…" Quistis pondered.

"Let's just look." Irvine concluded.

Irvine's attempt at putting a little hope into an already bleak looking idea wasn't met with optimistic ears. But all of them had to recognise that it was really the only thing that they could do at this point.

Squall had to resign himself with the fact that he wasn't going to be able to go back to those ruins. Rinoa was his neighbour and was obviously going to be a bit more clingy than usual, that was something he had to come to terms with.

Speaking of which, he was still a little unsure about what they were, she knew that he had feelings for him, something he now knew she reciprocated but they hadn't exactly discussed it or anything.

Quistis began briefing them on what they should do, usually something that Squall would do but she was informally taking the reins for a bit seeing as Squall had gone into a bit of a daydream.

"Well Rinoa and I will go take a look at some of the computers; they've got to have something. You two can just search through the papers, but nothing before like sixty years." Quistis instructed.

Squall was a mixture of both disappointed and thankful that Quistis was taking away Rinoa. He wanted to be around her and everything but he didn't really want to face the uncomfortable "day after" with her. It was when you both sorta want to talk about what happened but in a way you want to just forget all about it.

Once Rinoa and Quistis were gone though he had to endure the oh-so painful what your friends have to say about it part, always one of the more difficult things to go through.

"So…" Irvine hummed out. "You and Rinoa eh…"

"Fuck up." Squall snapped.

Irvine smiled, he loved getting a rise out of people, especially naturally awkward people like Squall.

He liked to think of himself as more of a smoothie, someone who could cruise along quite happily.

"Get some did ya Squall?" Irvine continued.

Squall pulled down a large armful of old ass newspapers, choking a little on the dust that covered them.

He rolled his eyes and tried to ignore all Irvine's derogatory comments, he was of course one of the worst when it came to female matters. Seifer coming in a close second, then he'd have to put himself; lastly Zell was more of a congratulatory sort of person.

After about fifteen minutes of the most painful conversation Squall had ever gone through Rinoa and Quistis came running around the corner, a librarian screaming "Don't run!" after them.

"We got heaps!" Rinoa exclaimed, holding up a handful of printed articles in her hand.

"All we did was type in you're name and all this information came up." Quistis said excitedly.

"There's stuff on me too!" Rinoa said while clapping her hands.

Squall grinned and took one of the articles, his eyes scanning over it quickly.

It wasn't a big write up but the headline grabbed his attention.

"**Balamb is Safe as Long as I'm Commander."**

There was a small picture of his face with Quote; Squall Leonhart written underneath it.

Reading through the articles soon put most of the pieces together; all the blank parts were filled with information.

Squall Leonhart had been the Commander of a place called Balamb Garden, it was a military academy that trained teenagers in the art of combat. A select few were chosen to become the elite fighting force called SeeD, these people were sent out to fight wars for whomever could pay for there services, Anything that was desired of them.

Squall had fallen in love and married the sorceress Rinoa, a very controversial move on his part and it had been much mediatised.

After that there was a few years where there wasn't much said about Squall Leonhart but then there was an international conference with all the continental leaders. In this meeting the leaders decided that all Sorceresses' were to be quarantined, Squall flatly said no.

He said that if they took her then he would get her back by any means necessary. When the man with fully trained mercenaries says that, most people listen.

Three weeks after his statement was made Sorceress Rinoa was assassinated, needless to say Balamb began war.

Squall was found dead five months into his war, killed in a lone battle with someone, whoever that person was they were never found out.

After Squall was killed Balamb's fighting spirit dimmed and they were soon overtaken. Balamb was abandoned after awhile, it was then claimed to be the most haunted place on the entire continent.

"You mean to say we were hanging out in the most haunted place around?" Irvine exclaimed.

"In a way it's a little romantic." Rinoa muttered.

"You're fucked." Squall scoffed.

"No you dick! Just that he waged an entire war for this chick."

Squall raised his eyebrows but left it at that, he wasn't going to rain on her parade.

"I bet that was what we saw in the rain too!" Quistis said excitedly, "The Sorceress finding her lost love through Squall."

Squall sighed and began packing up the newspapers that were spread over the table. Now that the big mystery was solved he didn't have to worry about staying in the library anymore. Once that tedious task was completed they all made there way out, the sunlight was a little blinding at first but they soon got used to it.

"Me n' Irvine are ganna walk." Quistis stated once they were near the car.

Squall clenched his eyes together and moaned to himself quietly. He knew exactly what she was doing, this was a "lets get Rinoa and Squall alone so that sparks can fly" thing.

"It's on the other side of town!" Irvine exclaimed.

"We could use the exercise." Quistis seethed.

Irvine mouthed the word "fuck" before he smiled at Squall and Rinoa, his displeasure apparent in his wide eyes.

"I'll see you guys later." Irvine groaned.

"Call me tonight Rinoa." Quistis said cheerily.

_Dunno if mediatised is a word but the computer reckons it is. I'm not terribly milfed about it anyway. Dunno if I used continental in the right text but as I said I'm not too milfed about that either. _

_Liked the chapter, hated the end. I was at the end of my little 'writing bubble' so it wasn't exactly Shakespeare. _

_Oh well, go make a cheese sandwich, you know you want one. _


	30. Chapter Thirty

**The Delinquent**

_I don't own The Apprentice, the Oscars or Final Fantasy VIII._

All Squall could do was role his eyes as he watched the event play out in front of him. The words streamed out of Quistis's mouth like she'd rehearsed them. The whole time she had what Squall could only refer to as a malicious smirk on her face.

Rinoa bid her farewell to Quistis and Irvine, seemingly blind to what they were doing. Squall knew that she was fully aware of what they were doing; she was being what she might call "mature" about it.

Squall waited until she was in the car to glare at both of them before climbing inside his vehicle.

Rinoa smiled at Squall once they were on the open road, Squall saw it out of the corner of his eye but didn't turn his head to meet it. He was going remain indifferent from it, so as to not draw himself into a conversation about "us".

"You seemed pretty determined to find all this out." Rinoa finally said.

"Yeah well… it was fucked up, I spose I had to."

Squall reached down and turned his radio on; he winced as he heard some pop track come streaming through the speakers. When he swiftly turned the tuner some recent pop/rock song blared out.

"I like this song." Rinoa hinted as Squall was about to continue his mission to find a half decent song.

He grimaced but left it on the current station; he couldn't believe that she liked this song. It was just a bunch of pussy teenagers trying to seem hard. That particular thought made him chuckle slightly, it was kind of like himself.

"So I guess your going to have to find a new hobby." Rinoa stated.

"What?"

"Well you can't faint and dream about things now." Rinoa giggled.

Squall smiled, regardless of whether this was going to be a joke for the time being, what he'd been through had changed him. He'd seen some amazing things through the eyes of someone who'd lived over half a century ago. For once he hadn't been fighting authority; he'd been on the other side of it. It was quite invigorating, like holding your head under water and screaming as loud as you can.

"Squall," Rinoa said seriously.

She had 'that' tone, the one that Squall had been dreading. Had he known that he'd have to have this conversation today he might've thought of something to say but it was a bit late now.

"Now that," she paused, choosing her words carefully, she didn't want to offend him. "Now that you've cleared up all the things that you had to,"

'_That's it Rinoa, keep it broad.' _Squall thought as he leaned his head on his hand.

"Whats ganna happen with us?" Rinoa enquired.

How Squall despised that word right now, us, it was only made the sentence that much more uncomfortable for both parties involved.

"Whadda ya mean?" Squall asked.

"Well… I'm willing to forget about happened if it'll make you more comfortable."

"How do you think pretending nothing happened is going to make anything more comfortable, Rin?"

Rinoa shrugged, a little annoyed that he wasn't going to actually answer one of her questions. She could see the entire conversation going like this.

"I dunno, it's just that you've got your reputation to think of and…"

"Do you have some sort of major deformity that's going to seriously mark me down?" Squall laughed.

Rinoa bit her lip; she understood completely what he was doing as she noticed they were getting closer and closer to their houses. He was stalling so that when they pulled up the driveway he could walk away not actually accomplishing anything.

"Your sarcasm isn't really appreciated." Rinoa sighed.

"I'm sorry Rin; I just fucking hate these talks. Cant we just go with the flow?" Squall enquired.

Rinoa nodded, not really happy with 'going with the flow' but feeling that that was going to be it out of Squall. Maybe he wouldn't be the picture perfect boyfriend that she saw him as. It was just that no matter what she was feeling when she was with him, it was always felt strongly.

If Squall was annoying her, she wanted to plough her fist into his face, if he was making her happy she was in hysterics.

Rinoa was about to voice her opinion but Squall got cut off by some lady in a four wheel drive.

"WATCH WHERE YOU'RE GOING YOU STUPID BITCH!"

Rinoa clenched her eyes together and covered her face with her hands in embarrassment. She couldn't deny how she felt about Squall but he was one of the most upsetting people to drive around with.

Rinoa opened her mouth to say something again but Squall turned into his driveway and the bump caused her to shut her mouth.

It wasn't until she heard Squall's door slam that she got out of the car.

"Well I'll seeya round Rin." Squall muttered.

She waved and stared at his retreating form.

'_I can't just let him go,' _"Squall!" Rinoa called out after him.

He stopped walked and turned; somewhat disappointed that he hadn't gotten away without having the dreaded 'talk'.

"We seriously need to talk." Rinoa whined.

"Oh for fucks sake…" Squall whispered quietly. "Fine,"

Rinoa grinned, and signalled for him to follow her. By the looks of things her father wasn't home and this made it the ample opportunity for them to have a private chat.

Rinoa led him into the lounge where she took a seat on the leather couch, coaxing Squall to sit beside her.

"So…" Squall breathed, clapping his hands together and trying to think of a sentence to follow up his outburst.

"I don't want to just pretend nothing happened Squall." Rinoa interjected.

Squall nodded but said nothing, infuriating Rinoa further. The set-up that Quistis had planned wasn't going out how she had felt it may have.

"It's just that, I don't know how to approach you. I've never been in this situation before with a person like you." Rinoa continued.

She stared at him; waiting for him to answer but all his did was nod again. It really was the most asshole thing he'd done yet.

"And now that I am its unfamiliar territory. It's like losing your virginity again, not that you want to hear about that…"

Her ramblings were cut short when she felt Squall's moist lips press against her own; it made the whole situation a little more relaxing in her opinion.

She slid down on the leather, Squall's body pressing down on her own. He had his hand holding up one of her thighs while the other was resting on her waist.

"We still haven't talked…" Rinoa moaned out as Squall began trailing kisses around her neck.

Squall heard something crash down on the ground and his head jerked up quickly to look around.

"What was that?" he whispered.

"The dog, ignore it." Rinoa said, grabbing his head and pulling it down towards her own.

Squall took no time forgetting whatever it was he heard and went straight back to business, the hand that had previously been on Rinoa's waist edging underneath her, heading for her bra strap. His expertly nimble fingers had it undone in seconds due to years of practise but he never got the opportunity to enjoy the spoils that were hidden underneath the garment.

"What the fuck is going on here!" Caraway shouted from behind them.

Squall fell off Rinoa while Rinoa tried in vain to straighten herself out.

"Get out of my house!" Caraway screamed at Squall.

Squall hoisted himself up and ran out the door as fast as he could, offering Rinoa only an apologetic smile as he vacated.

**Four days later**

Rinoa stared wistfully out the window, a dull smile playing on her lips while she chewed softly on the end of her pen. She slouched on the hard wooden chair that individuals actually deemed suitable for people to sit on for long periods of time, her mind a flurry with thoughts other than what the adult before her was lecturing on about.

The last couple of days had been magical, that's all she could relate them to. She and Squall had been practically couple, not officially that yet but damn near to it.

Rinoa was seeing a side to him that she didn't know existed, a playful almost innocent side that Rinoa felt special knowing that it was only she who saw.

Her eyes were fixated on the sky above, dazedly watching the clouds pass by, daydreaming her last class of that day away.

She listened half heartedly to her fellow classmates whisper about what they had in store for their Friday night, beginning to wonder herself what dastardly deed her and her comrades were going to get up to. Whatever it was it was bound to be more adrenaline filled than the bullshit they had planned.

Her heart skipped a beat when she heard the bell ring and a childlike excitement built up in her stomach as she the thought that she would soon be seeing Squall. She couldn't contain the grin that spread across her lips like a kid on Christmas day.

Rinoa heard the usual jingle of her various key chains as she picked her vandalised bag up. One of her favourite ways to make the time pass faster in class was to draw all over her bag; it bet the hell out of doing nothing.

She was out the door faster than anyone else and was pleased that she wouldn't have to follow the heard down the flight of stairs. Rinoa hated being surrounded by so many people in such a confined space; it was starting to make her a little claustrophobic.

When she saw the approaching double doors out of the building she grinned and let herself be forced into the herd-like rhythm that was the only way out of School.

Rinoa all but skipped the entire way to the car park; she had to hold onto some dignity. She composed herself and as coolly as she could walked around the corner to the car park.

Selphie, Irvine and Seifer were already huddled around their area of the car park, enthralled in some serious debate about who knows what.

Rinoa rolled her eyes when she noticed that the split in Selphie's skirt was growing more and more by the day, Selphie was always catching it on things and tearing it.

"Howz it?" Rinoa greeted as she advanced towards them.

"Hey girl," Selphie said excitedly, obviously thrilled that a female had come over. It really was painful to listen to the boys talk shit.

Before Selphie had time to tell Rinoa all about her afternoon and why it sucked major ass, Rinoa heard the most heavenly sound in the world.

"WELL FUCK OFF THEN!" Squall yelled as he walked towards his car.

He'd just been in a heated argument with a particular someone that he'd despised for quite some time. Just the usual really, it was basically his way of saying "I'll see you on Monday bitch."

Squall's last class had gone quite methodically, he'd ended out falling asleep at one particular part but the teacher was generally just glad that he wasn't being disruptive.

He tugged down on the tie around his neck, pulling it further down his chest than it already was, really just out of habit more than anything else.

Squall saw most of his friends standing around his car, talking amongst themselves. He chuckled to himself as he notice Rinoa try to not to stare at him. She was doing so well too, acting as though she hadn't even noticed him yet.

It was cocky as fuck but he knew that she'd seen him; she did this every time, waited until he noticed her. He wasn't going to be stubborn about it though, he thought her game was actually a bit humorous.

Selphie was leaning against Irvine's truck with Rinoa standing in front of her, in some stupid conversation about the same old bullshit. Squall gently glided his hand along the small of Rinoa's back as he walked past her. She smiled slightly and continued to ignore his presence, as he had begun to do, already talking amongst the boys as they waited for Quistis and Zell.

"What the fuck is taking that bitch so long?" Seifer finally seethed.

"She got kicked out of PE before." Selphie piped up.

Seifer groaned, throwing his hand up in the air for effect.

"For fucks sake! She knows not to fuck round on Friday. I wanna get out of here." Seifer ranted.

"Calm down dickhead." Quistis said from behind them as she walked across the grassy path separating the car park from the rest of the world.

"Where have you been?" Seifer enquired angrily.

"Settle down, I was at the coffee shop. I couldn't be bothered with the vice principal at the moment. Is that okay with you master?" Quistis said sarcastically.

Seifer grinded his teeth together, not able to let the last insult just slide, the attitude she'd had made him start to think.

"Did ya fuck him?" he burst out.

"I'm not having this conversation right now." Quistis sighed.

"Somebodies on their period." Zell laughed as he too approached the group.

Before Seifer had time to react Squall decided it was time to change the subject, Seifer was obviously not in the mood.

"So what's going on tonight?" he enquired.

"Well…" Quistis said with a smile. "My parents flew to Esthar on business this morning. They called from there after lunch, sooooo…"

"Party at Quisty's house!" Selphie exclaimed.

"Well that was what I was thinking." Quistis chimed.

**-------------------/**

"You are coming tonight right?" Squall asked once they were on the open road.

"Nah, I was thinking about getting out a movie." Rinoa replied.

Squall stared at her incredulously, you can watch a movie any night of the week, but it was Friday and that meant that they had to do something interesting. There's nothing worse than looking around and realising its Friday night and your sitting at home watching The Apprentice or some bullshit like that.

"I'm kidding, geez." Rinoa laughed. "I'm broke though." She added.

"Like it matters." Squall said half seriously, Quistis's parents had one of the most exotic liquor cupboards in Balamb and it was no secret they wouldn't notice if you drank the entire stash.

Why they even collected alcohol was a mystery, they were both avid about not drinking which was why Quistis usually had to stay at someone's house if she was getting on the piss.

Drinks at Quistis's house were always the best though; there was always something to talk about afterwards.

**---------------**

Rinoa had the phone cradled between her ear and her shoulder, half paying attention to whatever Selphie was saying on the other line and half trying to find something to wear tonight. She obviously couldn't go in her uniform.

Rinoa smiled for a second and glanced down at her uniform, she remembered how she had looked when she had first came to Balamb. Her school clothes had been so perfect, bar the heels down on her sandals and the untucked shirt. Now they didn't even look like the uniform. She had a split up the back of the skirt, showing a white lace of the petticoat that she wore underneath, it was coloured in various places with black pen or magic marker sometimes red as well. Her blouse was still untucked but one could see the bottom of the shirt she was wearing beneath and were the where the buttons were supposed to be done up. It had an I'm with stupid badge proudly pinned on her left breast pocket. She had traded in her sandals for a pair of black and white tennis shoes and around her neck, wrist and fingers were a range of bits of jewellery.

"Are still listening?" She heard Selphie ask through the receiver.

"Yeah, nah I was just having a moment." Rinoa replied, going back to her original task of finding something to wear.

"Are you and _Squall _going together?" Selphie giggled.

"Like always, please don't make this weird Selph, its weird enough." Rinoa sighed.

"Nah it's all jiggy, I think it's cute." Selphie apologized. "How's it weird?"

"I dunno, I've just never been with someone like Squall. I'm so used to the jocks and the pretty boys, he's just so intense."

She heard Selphie laughing on the other end of the phone and wished she hadn't said the words. This was going to give her so much shit throughout the night. When she thought that Selphie was about to begin the tirade of mortification she heard a male voice on the other end of the phone.

"Sorry Rin Hun, I gotta go. Irvy's here." Selphie said.

Rinoa was in a way glad that Selphie was going to go; it was taking her a lot longer to find something to wear talking to Selphie.

"Alright, I'll cya at Quistis's place."

She hung up her phone and threw it on her bed, she heard someone knock on her floor. _(Hehehe, attic)_

"Come in." She yelled.

"Are you still in her fucking uniform?" Squall laughed.

"Shut your face, I was busy." Rinoa lied.

True she had fed Angelo but other than that it had been a pretty monotonous time since she'd gotten home.

She stuck her head back in her closet, already feeling Squall's eyes on her. She smiled, not letting him see it; she hadn't been lying when she had said Squall was quite intense. She was glad to be finding this out though.

Rinoa felt a hand touch the small of her back lightly. It brushed its way around to her stomach and then she was encased from behind in Squall's arms, a feeling that she relished in.

"I love that feeling…" She breathed as he kissed the back of her neck.

"What feeling?" Squall muttered.

She spun around, her arms around his neck with his hands sat dully on her hips.

"When you first get involved with someone and you can't get enough of them." Rinoa replied.

Squall smiled and kissed the top of her nose; she closed her eyes in turn and grinned herself.

"Good for you." Squall chuckled not really knowing what to say.

"Just admit you love it too, I know you do." Rinoa joked.

Squall kissed Rinoa softly on the mouth, enjoying the fact that he could do that now. He didn't have to pretend like he didn't want to rip her clothes off and have her right there; he could actually try to now. Whether she'd be keen or not was a different story but a man has to try.

"You're ganna get shit-faced tonight and hound me aren't you?" Rinoa giggled.

"You're ganna fucking love every second of it girl."

Rinoa scoffed and leaned her head against Squall's chest, feeling it go up and down as he breathed. She could hear his heartbeat through his chest; it was still calm and confident while hers was pounding like a jackhammer. She couldn't explain what she was feeling, she felt so safe in Squall's arms, nothing could touch her.

"What am I ganna do with a shit-head delinquent like you?" Rinoa asked her question completely rhetorical.

She closed her eyes and smiled a real smile, the smile of a person who was truly happy. she finally didn't feel alone, she'd found someone who might not be able to ever take her mothers place, but could at least fill the empty hole that was left with her passing.

"Speaking of which, if anyone asks, like Ellone or Raine, I was with you last night from twelve to three."

_I finished it... I actually fucking finished it... Bit of a stink ending but hey cant get everything._

Get busy living or get busy dying.


End file.
